There's always hope
by Assassin's Creed Master
Summary: They left her. The cabin group she was rescued by had left her in a shed to die. Knowing she will eventually die from blood loss or infection, Clementine must gather the supplies she needs to fix her arm and escape as soon as possible.
1. Chapter 1: escaping

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 1: escaping**

**Warning, for those who have not played The Walking Dead Game Season 2, this story contains spoilers.**

**Hey, everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here and welcome to my next Walking Dead game story. With _Fight for Survival_ and _If only things were different complete_, I finally got the chance to write this story I have been wanting to do for sometime now. **

**This story is involved with season 2, but there will be a lot of changes this time. After this story, I am unsure if I will write another Walking Dead story. Unless season 3 game goes onto Clementine's story again, then I do not know what I got planned then. Here's my choices so far that may effect the story.**

**Episode 1: I saved Carley instead of Doug.**

**Episode 2: I cut David free from the bear trap.**

**Episode 2: I gave food rations to Clementine, Duck, Kenny, and Carley.**

**Episode 2: I helped Lily try to revive Larry.**

**Episode 2: I let Andy and Danny live.**

**Episode 2: I choose not to take the supplies from the station wagon.**

**Episode 3: I told everyone in the group about my past.**

**Episode 3: I left Lilly on the side of the road.**

**Episode 3: I talked Kenny down into stopping the train.**

**Episode 3: I shot Duck.**

**Episode**** 3: I helped Christa onto the train.**

**Episode 4: I killed the boy zombie in the attic.**

**Episode 4: I took Clementine to _Crawford_.**

**Episode 4: I saved Ben.**

**Episode 4: everyone went with Lee to find Clementine.**

**Episode 5: I cut off Lee's arm.**

**Episode 5: I did not lose my temper with Kenny**

**Episode 5: I let Omid and Christa go across the sign.**

**Episode 5: I killed the stranger.**

**Episode 5: I had Clementine shoot Lee.**

**Season 2, Episode 1: I tried to help Christa.**

**Season 2, Episode 1: I killed the dog.**

**Season 2, Episode 1: I pleaded to Carlos and gave him the sad eyes.**

**Season 2, Episode 1: I befriended Sarah.**

**Season 2, Episode 1: I convinced Alvin to give me some supplies.**

**Well, anyone, I have talked enough for one chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy the prologue and be sure to leave a review or two. **

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><p>Clementine; the young eleven-year-old girl who had been in this God-forsaken world for more than two-years now had just finished retrieving the supplies from the cabin she was forced to steal. She felt multiple emotions filling up inside of her at once-anger, pain, and fear. All of those emotions mixed together.<p>

She could not believe what she was forced to deal with in order to survive. The following day, she was attacked by a dog that left a huge bite mark in her left arm. She was rescued by two men by the names of Luke and Pete, who brought them back to the cabin in order to help her. Those two were the only ones who believed her. There was that pregnant woman named Rebecca and that young man who resembled Kenny named Nick who believed it was a walker bite. And there was Alvin; Rebecca's husband who remained neutral during their argument.

Once her arm had been checked by the doctor of the group named Carlos, he decided the only way they would be certain she was telling the truth would be to lock her in the shed. The others agreed to this and locked her out there, leaving her to slowly and painfully die. She knew that if you waited too long, the infection in the air would sink its way in and eventually kill her. It made her angry. How could this moron not tell the difference between a walker bite and a dog bite?

With no choice, she had broken out from the shed through a small hole in the corner of the shed that she pried open with a hammer and went to retrieve the items she needed. She was able to convince Alvin to give her some rag bandages for her arm and was even kind enough to give her a juice box.

She was able to acquire a needle from the bathroom that she almost got caught in by Rebecca, but fortunately, she was able to hide in the closet, and was able to convince Carlos' daughter Sarah to give her a bottle of peroxide for her arm. Sarah had agreed to keep quiet, but did ask if Clementine was a friend. Clementine decided she would be her friend, but that was not going to last long when she escaped.

Clementine had just finished painfully sewing her arm together with fishing wires with the stuff she stolen from the cabin. The worst part was over at least. She finished off the last of her juice box and observed her arm. It was not perfect, but it had to do for now. All she needed to do now was to wrap up her arm in bandages and then make haste to get out of here.

"Ow..." Clementine groaned whilst she picked up the rag bandages and began to wrap them around her arm, but was luck would have it, she had dropped them due to the shock and pain she just endured.

As Clementine knelt down to retrieve the rag, her face lifted up with shock just when she thought things could not get any worse. A walker had crawled halfway into the shed and grabbed onto Clementine's ankle. It must have either followed her in there or been attracted to her painful cries.

Clementine panicked as she grabbed onto a shelf to keep herself balanced and attempted to get herself free. She was able to get her foot free just for a second and kicked the walker, but it soon gripped onto her ankle again. Clementine went to retrieve the hammer on the shelf, but in an act of panic, she had fallen down onto her back. "Ah!"

The walker snarled and still kept hold of her ankle, desperately wanting to sink its teeth into her.

Clementine turned to her right where a pile of bricks laid next to her. She quickly retrieved one and smashed it against the walker's hand three times, but it still did not let go. The small hole in the shed the walker crawled in from broken open more, allowing the walker to crawl inside fully. The walker crawled towards Clementine and placed itself on top of her.

"Ahh!" Clementine groaned as she placed her right foot against the walker's neck and her left knee against its chest, using all of her strength to keep him at bay. With some effort, she was finally able to knock the walker back fully and quickly jumped up to her feet before it got the advantage of over her again.

Clementine picked up yet another brick and threw it towards the walker as it stood up, but the impact from the brick soon knocked him back down, but not for long. As the walker got up onto its feet, Clementine swiftly retrieved a rake and shoved it towards the walker's chest, keeping it from getting towards her for a couple of more seconds.

Clementine continued to keep it at bay for a few more seconds until she used her strength and pushed the walker back all the way to end of the shed, causing it to fall down and ended up with a sharp metal object impaling through its stomach. The walker was not going to give up like that and began scrambling upwards in an attempt to get free.

Taking her chance now that it was down, Clementine picked up the hammer in her right hand since she needed to conserve the energy in her injured arm, and proceeded towards the walker with caution. She lifted the hammer into the air and proceeded to smash the walker's skull in, just like her guardian and close friend Lee did when he killed her babysitter Sandra.

After smashing the hammer into the walker's skull at least four times, Clementine collapsed onto her back and clutched her arm while doing so. She could not believe what these people had done to her. First, they lock her in a shed that they thought would be safe, and now a walker breaks inside and nearly kills her.

This was a sign for Clementine to get out of here as soon as possible. At first, she considered taking those supplies with her, but what would they do now? She picked up the rag bandages and quickly wrapped them around her injured arm and then made haste to escape. She took the hammer she used to kill the walker and got out using the hole the walker had crawled through.

The moment she was outside, Clementine did not dare look back towards the cabin and ran away as fast as her legs would carry her. Truth be told, she did not wish to just wonder off into the woods, especially due to her injured arm, lack of sleep and food. But if she stayed there, then Nick would most likely just shoot at her again, and this time, she would not be so fortunate for him to might not miss.

Clementine ran for at least fifteen minutes, running blinding into the woods in pure darkness. She had no idea where she was going, what was in her way, or if any walkers were lurking the area. She continued running until she felt her body beginning to tire out, slowing her movement. She tried to continue moving, but her body simply refused to go any further.

"No...I...Uh...Eg..." Clementine spoke random words in her drowsy state as she could no longer have the will to keep moving. She moved towards a nearby tree and fell down towards the ground, her back sitting the tree upon impact. She clutched her arm and sat down against the tree, knowing she no longer had the will to go on any further. She was tired, hungry, and cold, and her hopes for survival were slim from this point.

Clementine felt her eyelids closing on their own and felt herself leaving this world. She mumbled one last word to herself before her body collapsed into a deep sleep. "...Lee..."

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><p><em>Lee was struggling to keep his now yellow eyes open as he was on the verge of death. He looked towards Clementine, the closest thing he had to daughter while he sat there with his one arm cuffed to a radiator just in case he turned quicker than he thought. "You're strong, Clem. You...you can do anything."<em>

_"But...I'm little." Clementine reminded, fearing her young age and her small body would prevent her from surviving in this day and age._

_"Doesn't mean nothing." Lee replied, remember those words Chuck had told him on the train. No matter how old or how big you are in this world, everyone needed to survive anyway they could. That is why he taught Clementine to use a gun." You're going to see bad stuff, but it's okay."_

_Clementine began crying whilst listening to the final words of her guardian. She already witnessed her parents as walkers just moments ago, and now she was going to see the same experience with Lee. "My parents. It's so horrible."_

_"I can't imagine, sweat pea." Lee replied, unable to tell what the young girl was feeling right now. He could not do anything to help her physically, but with what he learned in this day and age, he could teach her to survive by passing on what he learned_

_"And now...you? PLEASE...please don't be one of them." Clementine begged, crying heavily out from her eyes. She did not want to lose the only person she had left in this world. When Clementine's parents died, Lee became her father, and now she was going to lose him, too. "Please don't become a walker."_

_"There's only one thing you can do." Lee replied whilst struggling in his condition to continue on what he had to say next. He did not want to put Clementine through it, but he had no choice. "You know that."_

_"I don't know if I can." Clementine cried, grasping the gun she had just acquired from the undead security guard close into her hands._

_Lee closed looked into her eyes for a second while she didn't know what to do. He had final request that would probably dramatize her forever, but he did not wish to come back as one of them. "You have to shoot me honey."_

_Clementine immediately refused, shaking her head to both sides in denial. "Lee, no..."_

_"It's okay, It's okay." Lee soothed, whilst thought back to the day all of this began, the day he remembered that poor girl in the Motor Inn, the day he watched her prevent himself from turning. "In Macon...the first days we met, do you remember?"_

_"Yeah, I do." Clementine nodded._

_"When I went out to rescue that boy Glenn, we met a girl. She'd been bitten, too. All she wanted was to not come back as a walker." Lee explained, hoping this would be reason enough to why she had to shoot him before it was too late._

_"Lee..." she whispered._

_"And I remember how hard it was to do that. But I'm glad I did." Lee continued, looking away from Clementine for a moment so he did not have to see the sadness in her eyes. "You don't want to see me like one of them."_

_Clementine still did not want to go through with this, but she knew Lee was right and it had to be done. She herself did not him to become a walker. "Okay, Lee...I can do it. I can_

_Lee nodded his head slightly but his work was not over yet. Even with a gun and skills, Lee knew Clementine had to be with someone safe, and there were only two people who Lee could trust to take care of her. And they also happen to be the only two people left in their group. "Find Omid...and...Christa. They're outside of town...by the train. You remember how to get back there?"_

_"Yes." she answered whilst looking away from her guardian for a moment._

_"Good." Lee was able to rise a smile slightly when he knew she would be able to find her way back to the train. "They'll take good care of you."_

_Lee watched Clementine, who was now crying fully. This was hurting him too. Clementine was his family, she was like the daughter he never had. He still had one more advice he had to give her: "And Clem...Keep that hair short."_

_"I will. I'll cut if myself." Clementine agreed._

_"Great. Good...And also..." Lee was now too weak and was beginning to pass out from the infection. He wanted to tell Clementine that he loved her as one of his family, but what would be too painful for her to hear._

_"What, what is it?" Clementine asked, eager to know what he was going to say._

_"No, don't worry. All right..." Lee replied, his vision was now blurry and he could barely see her face anymore. He opened his eyes fully one last time and looked into her eyes. "I'll miss you."_

_"Me, too." Clementine agreed._

_Finally, Clementine knew it was time to fulfill Lee's request. She stood up and aimed the pistol directly towards Lee's head and watched as Lee's eyes finally closed and his head fell to the side slightly._

_Clementine looked away from her guardian and while shaking, she pulled the trigger, shooting him directly in the brain. She was devastated by this completely, but she knew now that Lee would not come back as a walker and he was now in a better place._

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><p><strong>And that's the first chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Clementine has stole from the group, patched up her arm on her own and escaped the shed into the dark woods, but what will she do now? Without a guardian, supplies and weapons, Clementine's chances for survival are slim. If you enjoyed this prologue chapter, stay tuned for chapter 2 to find out her fate.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: a new friend

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 2: a new friend**

**Thank you all for reading and reviewing so far. I know it may not look like much, but every little bit counts and I appreciate it. I just about finished this chapter because I spent fricking almost five hours just trying to complete a challenge on my game. It's tired me out a lot. **

**Anyway, here's chapter 2 and not much to say, other than enjoy the chapter.**

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><p>"Hey?...Hello...?...Are you okay?"<p>

Clementine's eyes slowly woken to the sound of someone calling out to her. For a moment, she thought it was Lee. She sometimes wished everything that happened to her was a dream and that she would wake up at any moment back at the motor inn, playing games with Duck whilst Lee kept them safe.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to the sound of the voice. She could not remember what happened the previous night, other than when she ran off into the dark woods in the cold rain. The first thing she felt was pain in her arm. Clementine may have stitched up her arm, but she was no doctor and the wound was not one-hundred percent healed.

The second her eyes were open and she could see, Clementine gasped in fear when a figure was standing a mere foot away from her. At first she thought it was one of the cabin group members or a walker. But it was deferentially not either of them. It was a man.

Clementine jumped back in fear and crawled back as much as she could. After yesterday's events, she was not sure if she could trust anyone anymore. "Go away! No!"

The man who was knelt down to her jumped up and placed his hands in front of him. He quickly attempted to calm her down before she did something stupid. "Whoa, relax. It's okay-"

"Get away from me!" Clementine screamed, halting in her tracks when her back came into contact with another tree. Before she could try to escape further, but the pain from her wound shot through her arm. She groaned and clutched her bad arm.

Now that she was basically trapped, Clementine got the chance to observe the man. He looked around in his late twenties, he had a close shave haircut, but she could still see he had black hair once. His ethnicity looked Mexican-American. He wore black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath with a cross necklace across his neck, blue jeans and white shoes. And to top it off, he had a pistol and machete attached to his holster belt and an AK-47 in his hand and a black backpack on his back.

"Whoa, whoa, just calm down." he soothed, remaining where he stood to avoid scaring her further. He could see she was not buying it. To prove he was not dangerous, he placed his AK-47 onto the ground and stood back up to full height. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. Just calm down. Okay?"

Clementine still felt like she could not trust him, but nevertheless, she slowly nodded her head in response.

"My name's Enrico." he introduced with a slight smile across his face. "What's your name?"

"Clem...Clementine." Clementine introduced herself, now breathing a little calmer than before.

"Okay Clementine. Just relax." Enrico soothed, slowly drifting his attention towards her arm where he could see blood smeared across her sleeve. "Are you okay...? You're hurt. I can help you. Will you let me look?"

Clementine still looked unsure, but for the sake of her arm, she allowed him to look. Anything to stop the pain really. She nodded her head for a second time in response.

Slowly, Enrico approached the young girl he stumbled across and knelt to her height. He waited until she offered her arm in front of him to which he gently held and rolled up her sleeve. He cringed slightly when seeing the young in her arm. "That looks nasty. Did a dog bite you?"

"Yes!" Clementine answered in a slightly loud voice. Finally someone had the common sense to recognize her injury. "Are you a doctor?"

"Almost." Enrico replied, examining her wound for a moment. "I was training to be one, but I learnt almost all of the basics. Did, uh, did you try to do this yourself?"

"I had no choice." Clementine explained, narrowing her eyes towards the wound on her arm. "These people, they...It's a long story. Can you fix my arm?"

"No problem." Enrico assured. He just met this little girl and would not let her die out here. "Come on. Let's get out of the open."

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><p>Now that Clementine had an ally to help her arm, the two of them made their way to a small area in the middle of the woods surrounded by brush to avoid walkers sneaking up on them. Clementine was still too weak to move on her own, but Enrico was more than happy to carry her until they were somewhere safe. He seemed like a nice man. For now, at least.<p>

Clementine sat on a log whilst Enrico had just finished sewing her arm together with proper stitches. He cleaned her arm with proper medical supplies and now it was feeling much better than before. It may leave a scar across her arm, but it was better than losing it at least.

Enrico grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around her arm a few times until the wound was completely covered up. "There we go. Your arm should recover nicely."

Clementine could not help but show her gratitude towards this stranger who basically saved her life at this point. "Thank you, Enrico."

"No problem. I saw you asleep on the ground and couldn't just leave you there." Enrico explained, turning back towards his backpack on the ground. He began to place all of his medical supplies back into the bag, but he took out something different: a packet of nachos. "You hungry?"

That was a question Clementine could say "no" to. "I'm starving."

"Here you go." Enrico said, handing her the nachos whilst he grabbed himself an energy bar and sat down on another log near Clementine.

Clementine felt like she could eat them all in way, but she had no intention of choking herself to death. She munched away on the nachos and felt better almost immediately.

The two sat in silence for a moment and munched away into their food. Whilst she continued eating, Clementine could not help but feel her luck was beginning to change. Yesterday she lost her friend Christa, got bit by a dog, almost shot and locked in a shed to die. But today she got her arm fixed up and met a stranger who possibly would take care of her from now on.

Enrico finished his food and shifted his attention back towards Clementine. He simply stared towards Clementine as she continued eating. He thought now would be the best to get to know her better, but he hoped he would not push her too hard. "So-o-o-o. If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up here in the middle of Carolina?"

"It's a long story." Clementine admitted, unsure on where to start.

"Well, it's not like we got work or school anymore." Enrico replied in a joking tone.

"Good point." Clementine smirked, setting her food down for a little while as she tried to think back to her life up until the apocalypse began. "My parents left me with a babysitter just before all this happened. My babysitter...She died. This man found me and took care of me. His name was Lee..." it pained her to say his name, but she kept strong and continued her story. "...We met up with other survivors for a while, but all of them died. Me, Lee, my friend Kenny, Christa and her boyfriend Omid, and Ben were the only ones left. The rest of us went to Savannah to find a boat and my parents. I found them...They were walkers...Kenny and Ben died. And then Lee got bit and died...I...I had to shoot him...I was with Omid and Christa. Omid died, and Christa was pregnant, but she lost the baby. I was with her for a long time and we were planning on heading north, but we got attacked by bandits. I don't know where she is. I found a dog but it bit my arm, as you know. This group found me but they didn't know if my bite was a dog bite or a walker bite. Even the doctor wasn't sure."

"A doctor?" Enrico repeated, raising one of his eyebrows up. "How could he not tell the difference?"

"That's what I thought." Clementine agreed before she continued the rest of her story. "They locked me in a shed until they were sure, but I knew I would die from blood loss or the infection in the air would spread inside. I stole their supplies and tried to patch myself up like Christa taught me. I escaped and passed out. And that's when you found me."

Enrico was silent. He did not know what to say or do at this point. This little girl had lost everything she ever had. He did not know what to say next. "...I'm...I'm sorry about everything that's happened to you, Clementine. I know what it's like. I lost my parents too. I watched them and my older brother die. I just can't believe what that group did to you. Jesus..."

"I...I kinda don't know what I'm going to do now." Clementine replied, lowering her head down when she felt like tears were going to drop out of her eyes, but after everything that happened, she had no more tears.

Enrico could not decide her fate, but he would not leave her alone out here. "Well, you mentioned you were heading north, right? To Wellington by any chance?"

"Yeah. That's it." Clementine answered.

"Well, that's why I was heading, too." Enrico explained before he offered her a proposal he hoped she would accept. "Listen Clementine, your friend Christa might still be out there and I think she would continue heading north. You should stick with me. We're both heading to the same location, but it's your choice, of course."

Clementine needed a moment to think his proposition over. She wanted to find Christa if she was still out there somewhere, and like Enrico said: she would most likely continue heading north. And sticking with him might be the best thing for now. "Yeah...I'd like that. I can't keep going on my own."

"Then it's settled." Enrico stated, relieved to have her company him to Wellington. "Well, since it's still morning, we can rest up for a while and then start heading there."

"Sounds like a plan." Clementine agreed until she resumed eating the rest of her nachos to fulfill her hunger.

Now their plan was settled, Clementine and her new guardian Enrico decided to rest up for a while until it was time to move on. Clementine felt relieved to finally meet someone nice and caring instead of the bandits she stumbles across nowadays. Hopefully nothing bad would happen to her during her time with this man.

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><p>Carlos and his close friend Luke waited in the living room until the rest of the group were awake. It was time to go and see if Clementine was telling the truth or not regarding her bite.<p>

Luke did agree with locking Clementine into the shed since it was the best option they could get out of the group, but he still felt bad for doing it. "Carlos, are you sure locking her in the shed was a good idea? Even if the bite was from a dog, what if she bleeds to death?"

"It was the only thing we could do for the safety of our group." Carlos explained whilst he had his arms folded together.

The two of them shifted their attention towards the stairs when Nick and Pete made their way downstairs arguing with each other. The two of them had a rough relationship with one another. Nick always tried to accuse Pete of being hard on him all the time and Pete always tried to accuse Nick of being too reckless and never thinking before he acted.

"Just leave me the fuck alone, will ya?" Nick told his uncle whilst he marched down the stairs, holding his Winchester Model 70 in one hand.

"Nick, I'm just telling you to keep your finger off the trigger unless you're sure on what you're aiming it." Pete explained in a normal tone. He kept a cool head whilst Nick was on the verge on losing his temper.

Nick did not reply and sat down on the couch, waiting until it was time to go outside. He always felt like Pete hated him and did nothing but give him a hard time when it was possible. "I'm not an idiot."

"I'm not calling you an idiot. Just saying be careful, is all." Pete warned, standing a few feet away from Carlos and Luke. "You were so close to shooting that girl yesterday. It was lucky you missed her."

"I panicked!" Nick explained, turning towards Carlos and Luke for support, but neither of them showed a look that agreed with him. He turned back towards his uncle and tried to justify his actions. "When I saw her move, I...I thought she was a walker...I just...I didn't mean to be so harsh...I...I..." Nick could not continue further and held a hand over his face. "I just didn't want the same thing to happen again...Not after when...You know..."

Everyone knew what Nick was referring to. Nick's mother/Pete's sister. That took in a bitten victim once and he ended up reanimating into a walker, and before they knew it, he had taken a bite out of shoulder. After Luke killed the walker, Nick took out a Glock 17 and shot his mother in the head to prevent her from coming back as a walker. Since that day, Nick was left broken.

"I'm sorry..." Nick apologized, now shredding tears out from his eyes. "I didn't...Mean..."

Pete could see his nephew was upset and helped comfort him in his time of need. He sat down beside him and hugged him in a fatherly-figure. "It's all right, Nick."

Carlos and Luke could not help but feel sympathy for Nick. He went through so much in his life. His father never was there for him, his mother died, he always tried to do the right thing without thinking. He just wanted to help.

After Nick was calmed down and back to his normal self, the four of them turned their attention towards the stairs when the heard footsteps pressing against the wood, causing it to creak. It was Sarah, who came downstairs dressed in her usual and only pair of clothes. It was unusually for her to be up this early, but nevertheless, no-one was complaining. For now, at least since it would only be a matter of time before Carlos made up one of his famous excuses to keep her from knowing what it was like out there. But everyone in the cabin group understood he loved Sarah and was only trying to protect her.

"Good morning, Dad." Sarah greeted, a yawn followed her greeting. She rubbed her eyes and adjusted her glasses across her eyes.

"Good morning, sweetie." Carlos returned the greeted as he placed his hand upon her shoulder and escorted her towards the kitchen. "Why don't you go and wait in the kitchen? I'll come and make you some breakfast in a few minutes."

"Yeah, sure!" Sarah agreed, the first thing on her mind was breakfast. She ran slightly into the kitchen and sat down by the kitchen table and waited patiently for her father to return. She turned towards the sink and noticed a lot of dishes that needed to be washed. But at the moment, Sarah hoped her dad would not find out about what she did last night, and that was help the younger girl named Clementine fix her up by giving her a bottle of peroxide. Her father surely would not be happy, but then again, how would he knew? For all she knew they would assume Clementine managed to find all that stuff on her own. All she would do was wait.

At perfect timing, when Carlos entered the living room again, Rebecca and Alvin had just walked out of their room downstairs, dressed in their usual and only pair of clothes. Now that everyone was here, it was time to go and check if their guest was telling the truth.

"Okay, let's get this over with." Carlos told the group, acting as their leader like usual. He turned back to his daughter for a moment who still remained in the kitchen. "Sarah, stay inside the cabin and don't come out this time. Okay?"

"Okay." Sarah nodded, but felt a little disappointed since she never got to go outside. When she heard the gunshot yesterday, she could not help but let her curiosity get the best of her and decided to go and have a look. And then later that night, that's when she met Clementine.

"Let's go." Carlos told the group and unlocked the cabin door, leading the way outside. One by one, the others followed him outside, Nick being the last one to leave and closing the door behind him. The cabin group made their way over towards the shed, Nick with his rifle in his grip just in case, but after yesterday's events, he wanted to make sure he did not jump to a conclusion.

Luke stood before the group and unlocked the shed. He turned back towards the group and gave them a slow nod to let them know they needed to be prepared. They all understood and returned the nod. Slowly, he gripped both of his hands against the shed handles and with one great pull, he opened both of them simultaneously and quickly took a step back just in case.

The group was horrified when their eyes witnessed what was inside. There was a dead walker inside. How in the world did it get in? And mostly importantly, where in the world was Clementine? Carlos marched inside the shed with an angry expression across his face, approaching the walker that was impaled against the wall. He noticed a few marks against its head, suggesting it had been hit.

"What the hell happened?" Nick asked, standing back and keeping his rifle holstered.

"It didn't eat her, did it?" Alvin asked, folding his arms together across his chest.

"No." Carlos simply answered. He stood up and leaned forward towards a table when he noticed his bottle of peroxide, fishing wires and an empty juice box on the side. He turned towards the dead walker again where he spotted a hole in the corner. It had been there since they first arrived and they decided to patch a blank of wood against it, but obviously it did not work. He put two and two together and turned back towards the group. "By the looks of it, she must have crawled out through that hole and snuck into our cabin and stole our supplies."

"She snuck in?" Rebecca repeated, a face full of anger rising, but that was more than likely due to her pregnancy. "How the fuck did she do that? Wouldn't we have noticed?"

"We were all in the kitchen during our meeting." Carlos stated the obvious. "She must have found our supplies and snuck back into the shed. A lurker found its way in, but I assume she killed it and escaped."

"She killed a walker all on her own?" Pete asked, slightly surprised to what this little girl was capable of that he had to give her credit for that. "Wow, that little girl was tough as nails."

The cabin group was now silent and was unsure on what to do. But what could they do? She was gone now and hunting her down would be a challenge, but what would be the point? Either way she had patched up her arm now and was probably miles away.

"So, what do we do now?" Luke asked Carlos as he placed his hands upon his hips. But he had a nervous and concerned look across his face, possible for Clementine. After all, he and Pete were the only ones to believe her.

"There's nothing we can do." Carlos responded, picking up the bottle peroxide and the needle before proceeding out of the shed. He marched through the group and made his way back towards the cabin, the others followed closely.

The rest of the cabin group did not say anything further and followed the doctor back into the cabin. Nothing they could now except for maybe try to put this incident behind them and maybe move on from it. However, Luke and Pete could not help but wonder if they did the right thing with agreeing with Carlos to lock her up in shed, but now they will never know if Clementine was telling the truth or not.

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><p><strong>And that is chapter 2, ladies and gentlemen, and here we meet my first Walking Dead OC Enrico. If anyone is interested in finding out more detail about him, there will be a biography on my profile. <strong>

**Well, I'm done with this chapter. Clementine and Enrico will now work together and make their way up north. Stay tuned for chapter 3 if you wish to continue reading. Until then, ciao.**


	3. Chapter 3: moving on

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 3: moving on  
><strong>

**Hey, everyone, I'm back and here's chapter 3. Just thought you'd be interested to know that me and another author have written a one-shot together. Author A Writer With Mixed Interests and I wrote a story called Playing Poker and it has been published onto A Writer With Mixed Interests's profile. Be sure to check it out if you have the time. **

**But for now, here's chapter 3 of _There's always hope_. Enjoy the chapter, fellow Walking Dead readers.**

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><p>The cabin group got back inside their home and remained in silent with one another. They were unsure what they were going to say or do next, except maybe put this event behind them and hope they would never get in a similar situation like this again.<p>

Luke was the first to speak after everyone merely stood there silence. He rubbed his hand through his hair with a nervous expression across his face. "So, uh, any of ya'll up for a game of Poker?"

"Yeah...Sure." Pete agreed in hopes it would help him forget about today. He turned around and proceeded towards his bedroom downstairs. "I'll go and get the cards."

A mere seconds after the older man had left, the others spread out and decided to do different activates for a while. Rebecca and Alvin made their way to their bedroom, possibly to get some sleep for a while since they were woken up early, and with Rebecca being pregnant of course. Luke and Nick sat on the couch, waiting for Pete to return. And as for Carlos, he made his way into the kitchen.

Carlos walked over towards a couple of the cabinets and fixed Sarah up a bowl of cereal. It was very difficult to get fresh milk nowadays, but they were fortunate to have quite a few supplies left. He placed the bowl in front of his daughter, who merely sat there playing around with her hands. "Here's your breakfast, sweetie."

"Thanks, Dad." Sarah thanked, grabbing the spoon and take a couple of bites out of her cereal. After swallowing them, she turned her attention towards her father who was busy getting his own breakfast and decided to ask about her new friend's whereabouts. She hoped she was allowed in now. "Dad, where's the girl?" she pretended to not know her name to avoid suspicion.

"We don't know, Sarah." Carlos answered whilst taking his cereal and proceeding over towards the kitchen table. He sat down opposite from his daughter. "She's gone now and we don't know where she went."

"Oh." Sarah lowered her head and placed her hand upon the side of her head. So much for a new best friend. She was certain she and Clementine could have been great friends if she stayed.

"Just try not to think about it, honey." Carlos assured her before he began to eat away into his own breakfast.

Sarah did not say anything, but respected her father's wishes and continued eating her breakfast. However, no matter what happened, she would not forget about Clementine, the only other girl she met since her father and their friends all escaped that mean man's camp and moved into the cabin.

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><p>The following morning, Clementine and her new ally Enrico finished up resting and proceeded to continue their journey together towards north. On their way through the woods of North Carolina, Clementine had copiously asked questions regarding important items like weapons, ammunition, food, and supplies. Those were important items that they would need to survive in the future.<p>

Fortunately for Clementine, Enrico was one step ahead of her. He had plenty of rounds for his AK-47 and Glock 22 and carried a machete with him just in case, he had plenty of food and medical supplies in his backpack. He was like the kind of person who knew what they were doing in an apocalypse.

Clementine and Enrico walked in silent through the woods, unsure on what to say to one another. She rubbed her hand against her arm and observed her surroundings for any walkers or people, but nothing in the distance or nearby. "S-o-o-o-o?" She trailed off.

"S-o-o-o-o..." Enrico did the same with a slight smile across his face. He could see where this was going and decided to make conversation. "So, do you know how to use a gun? I know that sounds a little crazy, but nowadays, everyone needs to do what it takes to survive."

"Only a pistol." Clementine replied, the latter being the only gun she was capable of using. She could not imagine trying to hold a rifle. "Lee taught me how to use a gun and was the one to cut my hair. That's why I keep it short so the walkers can't grab me."

"That's smart, that's exactly what I do." Enrico agreed, rubbing his hand through the remains of his hair. He chuckled and lowered his hand back to his side whilst holding his rifle over his shoulder. "Well I take your word for it and if it comes to a time when we need to use a gun, I'll lend you my pistol. I don't think you could carry my gun."

Clementine raised a slight smile in response, trying to imagination what it would be like to try and use a weapon that back. It would more than likely hurt her hands and knocked her down onto the ground.

"So, how long have you been in Carolina?" Clementine asked since she did not know much about Enrico's life when he practically knew everything about her now.

Enrico had to think about this one for a moment. He looked up towards the air whilst trying to take his memory back, but after being in a walker apocalypse for so long, he was beginning to lose track of time. "Around a month, I think. I grew up in Florida after my family moved her from Mexico. When all this began, I travelled across Georgia for a while until I found out about Wellington and decided to make a go for it. What about you, Clem? You're from Georgia, right?"

"Yeah, near Atlanta city." Clementine answered, but she was left a little surprised that one man could walk across two states. She and Christa could just about do that. "Did you find anything interesting along the way?"

"Nothing much, just the dead roaming across the world." Enrico answered like it was obvious. However, he did remember seeing a couple of important memories along the way. "While I was in Georgia, I was walking down the road when I stumbled across this dead corpse and she didn't even look like she had turned into a walker. She got shot through her eye by the looks of it. And apart from that, I did stumble upon this diner, but an old man inside shot at me and told me to leave. Crazy old man."

Clementine could have sworn that woman who got shot in her eye sounded familiar, but after a long time in this world, she could just about remember her age. "Maybe he was just scared."

"Maybe." Enrico agreed, somewhat respecting the man that took a shot towards him. "I think he missed on purpose just to warn me. I think he was just scared and trying to survive like the rest of us."

"Some people are willing to hurt others if it means to survive." Clementine responded, closing her eyes for a moment as she thought back to the moments she stumbled across bad people. The St. Johns, the Save-Lot Bandits, and others.

"I know the feeling." Enrico cut himself off when a gunshot erupted throughout the air. His instincts took over and he immediately aimed his AK-47 up whilst cautiously surveying the area for any holsters. He placed his fingers to his hips, signaling for Clementine to remain silent.

Clementine nodded, understanding what he meant. She remained crouched down slightly and waited for Enrico's next move, but she hoped she could trust this man with her life. He had been generous to her so far, but she had yet to see him in action.

Enrico looked around for a few more seconds until he was certain the source of the gunfire was not nearby. He shifted his attention towards Clementine and had a favor to ask her, an important one. He knelt down t her height level and tried to make this quick. "Clementine, we may run into trouble and two shooters are better than one. Here."

Clementine looked slightly surprised to see Enrico offering his Glock 22 to her, but nevertheless, she was grateful that this man would trust her to use a weapon. She took the weapon into her hands and nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Okay. Follow me and stick close." Enrico instructed quietly, carefully standing up to full height with his weapon rose. He slowly marched down towards the path they were heading down in the first place; keeping his eyes peeled for anything dangerous.

Clementine followed Enrico at the same pace with her pistol kept up just in case. It had been a while since she had last used a pistol, but that did not mean she forgot. She was grateful Enrico trusted her to help him and was determined not to let him down. After all, they would be together for a while it seems.

Finally finding the end of the path, Clementine and Enrico walked out into a huge open area with a river in the woods and what their eyes met next left them horrified and shocked. On their side, on a big roundish part of land in the center of the lake, and on the other side were multiple dead corpses scattered throughout the area. It looked almost worse than the walkers. Who in the world could have done this?

Enrico was unsure if the people responsible for this were still hanging around and was not looking forward to finding out. He prepared to leave this part of the woods before danger would find them. "It's best we leave. Come on."

Clementine nodded in agreement, feeling the same way Enrico did and was eager to get out of here. She turned around and prepared to leave, but she took one more look back towards the part of land in the center of the lake and a familiar pink shaped item was leaning against a rock. She quickly turned around and her eyes widened. "Enrico, wait!"

"What is it?" Enrico inquired, but by the sounds of his voice, he was anxious to get himself and Clementine out of here as soon as possible.

"We have to go over there." Clementine informed her, pointing a single finger towards the middle part of the lake. "I had a pink backpack when the bandits attacked me and Christa, and I can see it from here. These might be the same people. Let's go!"

Enrico did not really get a say in it and merely watched as the young girl ran through the water and onto the middle part of their land. Nevertheless, he wanted to help her find this Christa woman and followed her across the lake, hoping to find some kind of clue to her whereabouts.

Clementine jumped towards her backpack and unzipped it open and searched inside. She sighed in relief to see her photo of Lee and her drawing of Kenny and her family were still inside unscathed with a bottle of water half empty. She zipped her backpack close and placed it onto her back at perfect timing when Enrico had just arrived. "It's definitely my backpack. It has all my stuff in here."

"That's good." Enrico admitted, but his eyes suddenly narrowed to a dead corpse (or so he thought was dead) that slowly moved its hand forward. He quickly grabbed Clementine's shoulder and yanked her out the way before she was in danger. He aimed his AK-47 towards the moving corpse, preparing to end its suffering, but then he realized it was no walker. "He's alive."

Clementine observed the dying man and her eyes widened when she recognized his face. Either a confidence that came across him or it was faith shining upon them. "It's one of the bandits who attacked me and Christa! He might know where she is..."

Enrico nodded in agreement and placed his gun down and knelt down to the man, who was barely clinging onto life. "Can you hear me?"

The man only groaned in response and coughed up blood from his throat. Despite Enrico being a doctor, he did not have the proper medical equipment to save him and this man was going to die soon. He reached out his hand towards Clementine, trying his best to get his words out properly. "W...Wa...Wat...Water...Ple...Please..."

Clementine turned towards Enrico for improvement like he was her parent, but Enrico allowed her to make the decision. She turned back towards the man and knelt down him. "If I give you water, will you tell me what happened to my friend? The one who you attacked two nights ago?"

The man very slowly nodded in agreement.

Clementine took off her backpack and got out her last bit of water. She did not care if she got thirty later as long as she found Christa, or at least know her fate. She opened the bottle and placed the bottle near his mouth, slowly dripping the water into his throat and allowing him to swallow it carefully.

She continued doing so until every last drop was emptied out into the man's throat.

He swallowed the water and coughed a few times in response. He leaned his head back down and silently thanked her for her help, which was ironic since this was the very girl he and his friends tried to rob. "Th...Thank...Thank you..."

"Now where is Christa?" Clementine demanded, needing to find out as soon as possible before he died from his injuries. She got no response but panicked slightly when she saw his eyes closing, hinting this was his time. "Please, please tell me. Please..."

"She's...She's...She's..." the man repeated the same word over and over again until his eyes closed and his head collapsed to the side, finally dead after succumbing to his injuries.

Enrico gave Clementine and look to say he was sorry and placed two of his fingers onto the man's pulse, but unfortunately, there was no beat. "I'm sorry, Clementine, but he's gone. We better go before he turns."

Clementine attempted to shake the man awake for a couple of seconds, but like it or not, she had to accept Enrico was right and there was nothing more she could do. She put her backpack back on and stood back up to full height. However, she was not done yet and had to be certain. "Can we at least check the bodies? One of them might be Christa."

Enrico nodded in agreement and looked around the area, noticing the man corpses scattered around the woods, but he had no idea what Christa looked like. "Um, what does Christa look like?"

"Orange jacket, blue jeans, she's African-American, and has black hair." Clementine described the best she could, hoping to keep it fast since they were practically in the open.

"Okay, we'll check them all, but then we have to go." Enrico told her, immediately darting his eyes around for a corpse fitting the description of Christa. "Come on. Let's look around."

The duo decided to split up in the open area and searched around the area for any sign of Christa. But after searching each and every corpse present, there was no-one fitting the description of Christa. Either she had escaped and was still out there somewhere or she was dead, or worst, she had reanimated into a walker.

Clementine and Enrico regrouped at the opposite end of the lake and both of them had a look on their face that told each other they had no look finding her.

"I'm sorry, Clementine." Enrico apologized, placing his hand upon her shoulder for comfort. He had prayed for her friend to be all right, but until they actually knew her fate, there was nothing more they could do here. "Come on, we better go before some unwanted guests arrive."

Clementine nodded in agreement and was about to give Enrico her Glock 22 back, but instead, he beckoned for her not to.

"Keep it." Enrico smiled, allowing her to keep his weapons as her own.

Clementine smiled slightly in response and nodded in agreement. But now it was time to leave. Without saying anything, the two decided to run through the woods for a little while until they were certain they were safe. After all, who knows what they would come across out here in the middle of nowhere?

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><p><strong>That's it for chapter 3, folks. Unfortunately, Clementine and her new friend Enrico have had no luck finding Christa and it is now time to move on towards north. Let us see what obstacles they will face in the future.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4: strangers

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 4: strangers**

**Here's the next chapter, ladies and gentlemen, but before we leave, I'm going to leave you all with a question you can either leave in your reviews or send to me in PM: **

**Out of all the cabin group members in season 2, if you could save only one of them, who would it be? Me personally, I would have saved Sarah. The reason why is because he felt her death was unfair. I mean, what is the point of saving her early in episode 4 when she just dies later again in the same episode? They should have at least had her last until episode 5. But that's just my opinion. **

**In the meantime, here's chapter four to my story. Happy reading, folks.**

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><p>Shortly after encountering dozens of corpses scattered across the area, Clementine and Enrico made haste to get out of the area before the people responsible for this massacre had appeared, and that was not something both Clementine and Enrico were looking forward to.<p>

The two had been running for quite some time now to make distance between them and the area, but they needed to stop after a while to rest. The young girl and the trainee doctor stopped in the middle of nowhere to take a couple of breaths before continuing the rest of their journey towards north.

"We...We...I think we're...Safe now..." Clementine said, taking breaths in between each word. She had never ran this much in a long time.

"Yeah...We're...We're good..." Enrico panted, placing his hands upon his knees whilst he catched his breath back. He leaned his head up for a moment and carefully surveyed the area to make sure no walkers were lurking around the area.

After a moment or two, Clementine and Enrico got their breaths back and were able to breath normal again once their heart rate had slowly gone back down to normal speed.

"We better keep moving." Enrico suggested, holding his AK-47 over his shoulder as he proceeded towards the path they were heading towards. Clementine followed closely.

The duo continued walking down the path in silence now that they had nothing to say at this point. What was there to talk about? They already met each other and got to know everything about one another, but there was nothing left to talk about. They could not exactly say "What did you have for breakfast?" or "How was your day at work?" anymore.

As the two walked in silence, both were startled when new voices had suddenly spoke up that did not sound familiar at all. Clementine and Enrico took cover behind a log rested beside bushes and slowly peaked over the log to see who was nearby. But as a caution, they had their weapons ready just in case things got back.

"I swear, Troy, you better not have been wasting ammo on lurkers again!"

"Nope, used my knife just like you told me to."

Enrico slowly peaked over the log to see the people talking. There were four of them standing together, three of them armed with the same AK-47 he owned, except theirs was the original color whilst Enrico's gun was custom made.

One of them who Enrico assumed was the leader had medium long black-grayish hair, a black-grayish mustache and looked around in his middle forties. He wore a brown coat with a row of fur against the hood and black pants. And he wore a holster belt with a Cold Python attached and his voice was scratchy and deep

One of them had longish brown hair with a short mustache, he looked around in his middle thirties and he wore dark green camouflage jacket and light green camouflage pants. He held an AK-47 in his hands.

One of them wore an orange beanie hat; he had longish black hair, he looked around in his early twenties, and he wore a long dark brown coat and blue jeans. He too held an AK-47 in her hands.

And last but not least, a woman who had long red hair that was tied back, she looked around in her middle twenties, she wore a long green t-shit with a brownish hunting vest, and to top it off, she wore blue jeans with brown boots. And she too held an AK-47 in her hands.

Enrico could see they were armed and dangerous, but was uncertain if they were dangerous or not. He attempted to slowly sneak back without attracting attention, but he was so focused into the strangers that he clumsily stood on a branch that caused a loud snap sound. "Oh, no."

Immediately, the four people on the other side of the bush turned their attention towards the sound of the voice and aimed their AK-47's towards the bush. The leader, whoever, merely stood there with his hands placed to his hips.

"Oh, Jesus." Enrico sighed, fearing his clumsy mistake may have cost serious consequences Clementine and himself. He placed his lips to his lips and beckoned for her to be silent. "Shh."

"Who's out there?" the leader called out whilst he and his people remained in the same position.

Enrico could see there was no going back now, but he had faith he could get himself and Clementine out of this if he just talked to them. He placed his weapon down and called out to them. "Are you friendly?"

The leader turned his head to the side as the man with the beanie hat and the woman lowered their weapons, but the man wearing the camouflage continued aiming his weapon. "Well that depends on your definition of "friendly"."

"Okay, are the kind of people who don't go around robbing or biting people?" Enrico rephrased, but he had his weapon clutched slightly just in case things went bad.

The leader merely hummed in response and placed his hand upon the man with the camouflage's gun and pushed it down. "It's okay, come on out. No need for violence here, I can promise you that, sir."

Enrico slowly got up onto his feet and Clementine followed. He left his AK-47 on the ground, but Clementine had his Glock 22 in her back pocket just in case things got bad. "Hello..." he greeted nervously.

"No need to worry, we're just simple survivors, I can assure you that." the leader man assured with a slight smile across his face, but it was hard to see under that mustache. He decided to introduce himself and his colleges to these strangers. "My name is William Carver. And this is here is Bonnie, Troy, and Johnny."

"It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you, I guess." Enrico admitted, now wishing he had his gun in his hands. It would certainly make him feel a lot better at this point. "My name is Enrico, and this is here is Clementine."

"Hmm, been a while since I saw a kid since this whole mess began." Carver admitted, shifting his eyes towards Clementine who frowned slightly and crossed her arms together. "Hey, don't worry, honey, I didn't mean no offence by it."

Clementine did not respond to the stranger, but did unfold her arms and place them back to her side. For some reason, she did not have a good feeling about this man and hoped Enrico was not going to join with them.

"So you both related?" Carver inquired in a somewhat friendly tone.

For an unknown reason, Enrico decided to tell a lie. He was certain that even in this day and age that these strangers wouldn't hurt a kid. "Uh, yeah, she's my little sister."

"Oh." Carver nodded, however he could not help but point out the obvious. "You have a accent, but she sounds like she's from around here."

"Uh, yeah, our mother was Mexican, but our father was from Atlanta." Enrico explained, making this up as he went along. He was beginning to regret lying now that made him want to kiss his cross necklace.

Carver still looked somewhat questionable, but he decided to drop it for now. He had an opportunity he would like offer them that any sane people would want to accept. "Well, I'll cut to the chase. Me and my crew here are from a community a few miles back. It's a big fortress with plenty of stocked up people, supplies, food, weapons, and everything you need in this world to survive. There will be work, of course, but everything I just mentioned will be rewarded for your hard work. It's up to you, of course, but we're leaving in a couple of minutes. We need to head back. What do you say?"

Clementine and Enrico turned towards one another and did not need words to tell each other what they wanted to do. This offer somewhat sounded too good to be true and maybe they did not need to head north after all. But for all they know these people could be lying and it may be a trick just to kill them and take their supplies.

After a moment of communication using expressions, Enrico had his answer for William Carver. "Thank you for the offer, but I am afraid we're going to decline."

For a moment, Clementine could have sworn Carver was leaning his hands down to retrieve his Cold Python, but instead, he merely stood there and accepted their decision. "Well, if that's what you what to do, then I respect your choice. But if you ever change your mind, just head south and look for direction signs."

"Will do." Enrico nodded.

"We better be on our way." Carver told his crew as they all turned towards their right simultaneously like army soldiers. However, before they left, Carver turned back towards them with one more question. "Oh, and one more question: you haven't happened to seen seven people together, have you? They're from my group and we've been separated for quite some time. Two farm boys named Luke and Nick, an old man named Pete, a Spanish guy named Carlos and his daughter Sarah, a big, black guy named Alvin, and a pregnant lady named Rebecca."

"I can't say they ring a bell, sorry." Enrico answered, unfamiliar with the many names that were just thrown at him.

Clementine was certainly surprised when hearing all of these names. They were all the people from the cabin and she remembered when one of them mentioned the name "Carver" after she just woken up after passing out. Was this man after them? A small part of Clementine wanted to tell him the truth to make them pay for leaving her to die, but if she did that, then she would be no better that none of them.

"I haven't seen them either, sorry." Clementine lied, but she hoped he would not see through this. After all, she was raised by her parents to never lie as it was a bad thing, but except it was necessary to do the right thing.

"That's a shame. I really miss them." Carver admitted, looking down towards the ground for a moment with his hands to his hips. He leaned back up to face the duo and smiled slightly. "Well, you both have a nice day now."

The four of them marched away through the woods. Clementine and Enrico merely watched as they walked off into the distance until they were a mere tiny dots.

Enrico sighed heavily in relief, certain that it could have went a lot worse that he thought. He leaned down and retrieved his AK-47 whilst turning back towards the way they were heading. "Well, I'm glad that's over. We better get moving."

He turned back towards Clementine who looked at him with a slight grin across her face. "What?"

""Little sister?"" Clementine repeated whilst she folded her arms together. She found that funny for some reason.

Enrico chuckled slightly in response before the two of them continued their walk through the woods. "What can I say? I panicked a little."

Clementine turned away for a moment and shook her head, but after that, he turned her expression into a serious one and turned back around to face him. "What do you think? Do you think that man was telling the truth?"

"I don't know, Clem." Enrico admitted, unsure on who he could trust these days, but he had his trust placed in Clementine, and that was not due to her being a little girl. "He may have been telling the truth, he may have been lying, or he may have been bending the truth. Either way, we'll never know. We should keep heading north."

"I guess it's our only choice now." Clementine agreed, staring off into the distance where she could see nothing but trees and bushes for miles. They certainly had a long way to go, and it would not be easy.

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><p>For the rest of the day, Clementine and Enrico continued walking until nighttime was beginning to spread across the sky, and it certainly was not safe to continue walking at night. The duo stumbled across an abandoned cigarette truck in the middle of the woods. It looked like it would keep them safe for the night.<p>

Enrico opened the back doors to the truck and aimed his AK-47 inside the second he opened it, up to his relief, there were no walkers inside. He beckoned for Clementine to get inside first before getting inside himself. He surveyed the area one more time to make certain no walkers were around the area before heading inside himself.

Enrico sat inside and closed the doors behind him, pulling the handles down tight to make certain it would not open, but it's not like walkers learned how to open doors. He sighed in relief and set his bag and AK-47 down. "Looks like a good place to stay for the night."

"It's best we stay away from the windows." Clementine stated, but for some reason, she decided to whisper.

Enrico nodded in agreement whilst digging into his back pack for some supplies. It was a mystery how he fitted so many supplies inside, but with the dead roaming the world, what else could get stranger now?

He took out a blanket and a pillow that he used to sleep regularly, but instead of using them for himself, he gently placed the blanket around Clementine who was shivering slightly in the cold weather. "Here. You don't look very warm, especially in this weather."

Clementine felt much better having a pillow and blanket to sleep with, but she felt somewhat guilty for taking them, especially after Enrico had done so much for her and she had not yet did anything else to repay his kindness. "Thank you, but are you sure? Won't you be cold?"

"Believe it or not, this jacket gets me too warm sometimes." Enrico admitted, trying to get himself comfortable on the steel ground of the cigarette van. He sighed and placed his arms around his chest, and bid Clementine goodnight. "Goodnight, Clementine."

Clementine got onto her side and and relaxed her head down onto the pillow. She was grateful to have someone like Enrico taking care of her and she would find a way to pay him back whenever she got the opportunity. "Goodnight, Enrico."

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><p><strong>That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. Originally, I was going to make it a little longer, but I have a cold and was not feeling too well just as I got around halfway through the chapter. Because of this, my next chapter might take a little longer, but you never know. I could just suddenly get better.<strong>

**Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and hope you stick around for chapter 5. Thanks for reading so far, and ciao for now.**


	5. Chapter 5: five day journey

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 5: five day journey**

**Ladies and gentlemen, I give you chapter 5. I am still a little unwell but I drank some lemon tea and did some exercises and feel a lot better. Anyway, apart from that, we have chapter 5 right below. Have a good time reading, folks.**

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><p><em>Five days later<em>

Five days had passed since the events of meeting Clementine and since then, the cabin group had almost got back to their daily routine life. Early in the afternoon, the cabin group members were doing separate activates.

Luke and Nick were playing poker together in the kitchen, Pete was outside keeping watch, Carlos was in the living room doing a puzzle on an old newspaper, Sarah sat on the other couch reading her book, Alvin was in the bathroom upstairs, and last but not last, Rebecca was resting in bed due to her pregnancy. It would not be long now until she gave birth, and hopefully, everyone was prepared for this.

In the kitchen, Nick placed his cards down and smirked when he revealed he had two seven's in his hands matched with another two seven's on the table. "Four of a kind. What did you get?...Luke? Luke?"

Luke was too deep in thought to notice his best friend calling out to him. He was too busy thinking about the young girl he and Pete had rescued in the woods. He felt extremely guilty for agreeing to leave Clementine in the shed like that, and even if she was telling the truth about her bite being caused from a dog, she would not survive out there without weapons, supplies or food.

"Huh?" Luke finally dazed out from his thoughts and placed his cards onto the table, revealing he had only a flush. "Oh, yeah, I got a flush. You win."

Nick could tell something was wrong with Luke just be looking at his fast and decided to ask. "Everything okay, Luke? You looked you got something on your mind." he asked whilst shuffling the cards.

Luke decided to just be honest about what he had on his mind, knowing Nick was never one to just drop the subject. "I was just thinking about Clementine."

"Luke." Nick sighed, already knowing where he was going by this. "We've talked about this. We don't know where she is or if her bite was a dog or a lurker. There's nothing we can do."

"I know that, Nick, but I just feel guilty for leaving her in a shed like that." Luke explained, shifting his eyes towards Nick when he decided to point out something Nick was responsible for. "Don't you remember that you almost shot her?"

Nick had the feeling he was going to say that. It was true that he felt extremely guilty for almost killing an innocent life. He even expressed his feelings and remorse a day later after locking her in the shed. "Yes, I remember, Luke, and I feel bad for doing that. Once we found out what her bite was, I was going to apologize, honest."

Luke did appreciate Nick trying to step up and do the right thing, but there was nothing more he could do at this point. He continued speaking about the subject whilst Nick dealt out some guards between them. "I believe you, Nick. But she's gone now and probably dead or worse..."

It did not take a genius for Nick to figure out what he meant exactly. He certainly hoped that if Clementine had died, she got a quick and painless death rather than become one of them. "Yeah, I know. Let's just try to forget about it, man."

In the living room, Carlos had been doing his crossword puzzle for quite some time now, but however, he was too deep in thought, thinking the same thing Luke was discussing with Nick right now: Clementine. He too felt guilty for locking her in a shed like that, and it was his idea in the first place and now they would never know if she was telling the truth. He was certain the shed was safe from walkers.

"Dad...?"

Carlos dazed out from his thoughts when he heard his daughter speaking to him. He kept his eyes glued to the newspaper but he responded to her nevertheless. "Yes, Sarah?"

"What does conspicuous mean?" Sarah inquired, setting her book down in her lap for moment.

"It means when you can see something that is clearly visible and noticeable." Carlos answered, but he had to think about that question for a moment until he remembered the definition.

"Oh." Sarah nodded to assure her father she understood and brought her book up to her face and continued reading. "Thanks, Dad. I'm on chapter five now!"

"That's nice to hear." Carlos agreed before averting his attention back towards the crossword puzzle. He hoped he would be able to forget the events from five days ago, but regardless of how hard he tried, the guilt of possible being responsible for allowing a little girl to die would haunt him forever.

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><p>During the five days that had passed, the duo Clementine and Enrico had been walking through the woods now for quite some time, and regardless of how much distance they travelled, everywhere around them looked identical. But they were not willing to give up just like that and had hope that Wellington was out there somewhere.<p>

Along the way, they had encountered a couple of walkers around the area, but it was nothing Enrico couldn't handle with his machete The duo continued walking during the late afternoon and their hopes were lifted when they emerged out from the woods and in the distance they could see mountains. Things were certainly looking up.

"Wow, we made it out of the woods." Clementine said smiling, looking off into the distance where she could see some building structure in the distance. "Looks like we're making some progress."

"Indeed, but we better look ahead just to make certain." Enrico suggested, placing his backpack onto the ground that he unzipped and dug his hand around inside. He eventually grabbed the right item and retrieved a pair of binoculars. "Want to look while I keep watch for any walkers?"

"Sure." Clementine agreed, accepting the binoculars and placing them over her eyes. She looked around the area for any sign of structure rather than just seeing woods for miles and miles.

Clementine moved her binoculars towards the right to see a ski lift at the bottom of the mountain that led to the top. It looked like it would carry people to the top of that mountain on the other side of the river. "There's a ski lift or something, I think. I can't tell if it works or not."

"Chair lift?" Enrico corrected, placing his fingers to his chin and began to rub them. "I think it looks like it leads up to that building up there."

Clementine shifted her binoculars to another direction to investigate what other things she could see. She looked a couple of feet up from the chair lift to see a big-looking house near a wind turbine. It looked like a good place to stay for the night, that's if someone else had not already occupied it. "There's a building on the mountain on top of the mountain. It's pretty big."

"Might be a ski resort I saw on my map." Enrico assumed, taking out the said item that he unfolded and checked. "Hmm, looks pretty useful that would keep us warm for a while."

Clementine saw enough of the area where they big house was and decided to look somewhere else. She moved her binoculars over to the far left where the bridge that was going to take them on the other side was, and at the end of it, was a small station house. "There's a bridge we can use to cross."

"Does it look passable?" Enrico inquired, a feeling told him that bridge was the only way across.

"I think so." Clementine answered, examining the bridge that looked deserted for now and did not look damaged that much to fall apart. She turned her attention towards the small station house at the end of the bridge. "There's a little house by the bridge."

"How small?" Enrico asked.

"It's pretty small." Clementine admitted, turning even more to the left to investigate the bridge nearby for anything she might have missed, but she was certain there was nothing else nearby. "I think that's everything. The bridge, the big house, the little house, and the ski lift."

"Well, I guess we better get moving then." Enrico suggested, accepting the binoculars from the young girl and placing them back into his backpack. He placed his backpack onto back and turned towards the path that looked like it would take them towards the bridge. "Well, let's keep going."

Clementine did not say anything, but trusted Enrico and followed him down the pathway. Both of them walked together at the same pace in silence with nothing much to say to each other. They were making a lot of progress so far and the further they got, the closer they would be to getting to safety. The journey to Wellington would without a doubt be tough, but for the sake of Survival, it had to be done.

When Clementine and Enrico got to the end of the pathway and were now close to the bridge, they froze in their steps when the familiar faces of walkers had emerged. Both of them took cover behind a boulder before they were spotted, unsure if there were any more of them lurking around the area.

Enrico studied his surroundings to make sure there were no other walkers present. All he could see were two walkers simply standing there by the bridge. One of them stood there looking off into the distance whilst the second one was lying against a boulder. "There are only two of them, but it's best we avoid using weapons."

"Let's take them." Clementine suggested, willing to do anything if it meant getting across that bridge.

"I like the way you think." Enrico agreed, placing his backpack down again as he dug inside and retrieved a hammer that he handed to Clementine for her to use. "Here. When I found you, you had a hammer in your hand. I thought I'd keep it just in case."

"Thanks." she thanked, clutching the very same hammer that she used to kill the walker. As she stared towards the hammer, it reminded her of the first days all this began. When she was hiding in her tree house, she had a hammer with her for protection. She used that hammer to give to Lee to kill the undead Sandra. It took him four blows to kill Sandra, the same amount of hits it took her to kill that walker in the shed.

How it all looked similar.

"Okay, I'll kill biggy and you take shorty." Enrico debriefed his plan as he took out his machete from his holster belt. "Does that sound good to you, Clem?"

"I'll take the big one." Clementine told him, clutching her hammer tightly in her grip. She did not know why, but she was comforted that she could take him down.

Enrico had to admit that did not sound like a good idea, but he was not her father and could not stop her from her decision. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Clementine assured.

"Okay then." Enrico skeptically agreed and stood up from behind the boulder, Clementine did the same. Clutching his machete tightly, the two began to slowly sneak towards their targets.

The two had their melee weapons ready that were a machete for Enrico and a hammer for Clementine. They slowly sneaked up to their targets until they were in range with, and then, in the quick of a flash, they both simultaneously hit the walkers with their weapons.

Clementine whacked her hammer into the back of the walker's leg that sent him down onto his stomach. She proceeded to finish him off with one strong blow to the back of the head. Whilst she handed him, Enrico easily decapitated the little walker and placed his machete back into his holster and approached Clementine.

The young girl struggled to retrieve her weapon out from the back of the walker's head. She pulled with all her might, but that hammer was not coming out.

"You can do it." Enrico encouraged her, placing his hands upon his hips as he waited. He was going to help her, but he had faith in her that she could do it on her own. She acted more of an adult that any kid he's ever met. "Just relax and give it one good pull."

Clementine inhaled a deep breath and clutched the hammer tighter in her grip as she began to move it side to side until it was finally free from the walker's skull. She pulled it so hard that she almost fell over onto her back, but Enrico was quick enough to catch her.

Enrico smiled as he helped her stand back onto her own feet. He placed his hand upon her shoulder and congratulated her on a job well done. "Good job, Clementine. It seems I underestimated you a little."

"A lot of people seem to do that." Clementine responded, deciding to keep her hammer in her grip for now as a precaution.

"Well, I'll be sure not to get on your bad side then." Enrico said in a joking tone, but a little part of his sentence sounded like he was being serious. He picked up his AK-47 and proceeded towards the bridge. "Let's cross the bridge before more of our _friends_ turn up."

With that done and said, Clementine and Enrico carefully made their way down the bridge and stuck to the left on the metal path. The reason for this is due to the wooden tracks looked a little unstable and they decided to stick to the path just to be safe. As they got around halfway down the bridge, they saw some-sort of handcar on the track, and unfortunately, beside it were two walkers.

One of the walkers was stood up, but the other one began crawling before it got up onto its feet. Both walkers snarled and growled as they made their way towards the little girl and the grown man, obviously eager from a bite to eat. Clementine and Enrico saw them approaching and froze in their steps.

Enrico attempted to figure out a plan and had to think fast. He turned towards Clementine and noticed she was looking back towards the way they came. He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw yet another walker coming towards them. They were trapped in the middle of the bridge.

"_Oh, dame un respiro._ (="Oh, give me a break.")" Enrico silently gasped while looking back and forth at the three walkers. He pulled out his machete from his holster, preparing to defend himself and Clementine. "It's okay, there's only three. Come on, let's take this one first. That way we can escape."

Clementine nodded and followed Enrico back towards the way they came. He began moving towards the walker who was coming at them from behind. If they killed him first, than they would have an escape route just in case they got outnumbered.

Clementine raised her hammer as she looked back towards the two walkers who followed them but luckily they could not move that fast and that gave them an advantage.

Enrico moved towards the single walker and raised his machete to kill it, but before he could, he suddenly felt gravity had pulled him down more than it should and yelled out. "Shit!"

He had been walking along the wood tracks after concentration too much on the walker to notice. He fell through the wooden tracks. The walker he was going to kill ended up falling down with him. He dropped his AK-47 and machete and both landed on the metal path.

"Enrico!" Clementine screamed as she ran towards the hole in the gap. She jumped down onto her stomach, expecting to see the worse, but to her relief, Enrico was okay. Well, not okay but alive.

Enrico had placed his arms around a round metal girder behind him and placed his legs around another round metal girder in front of him to keep himself up. As for the walker, it had fallen onto a flat support beam under the bridge with part of a broken sharp pole impaled through his shoulder. Both of them were trapped.

"Clementine! It's okay, I'm okay!" Enrico assured, struggling to keep his grip on the girders.

Clementine had to help him fast when she could see the walker was trying to grab him, and at any moment, he might break free and got closer to Enrico and take a bite out of his feet. She reached out her left hand, but found she could not reach him. "I can't reach you!"

"It's okay, Clementine. We'll figure something out soon." Enrico assured her whilst trying to keep his feet away from the walker, but if he did, he might slip and fall. He had to be careful. He looked up towards Clementine and only just realized she was in danger. "Look out!"

Clementine jumped back onto her feet and quickly took a few steps back as the two walkers were approaching her. She had to act fast if it meant saving Enrico and herself.

"Oh, shoot..." Clementine gasped, raising her hammer as the closest walker moving in her own. She whacked him in his right leg to bring him down to her level before aiming directly for his head.

Clementine aimed for his head, but due to the pressure she was feeling, she ended up hitting him in the side of his head instead. She had to retrieve her weapon as the other walker was not far away. She finally got her weapon back, taking part of the walker's head with her in the process, but the walker was not dead.

Clementine almost fell back but managed to keep her balance at the edge of the bridge. She looked down towards the bottom of the bridge that went a long way down. However, it gave her an idea. She began talking to the walkers like they could understand her. "Hey, over here! Come on!"

Enrico had heard this from under the bridge where he was stuck, but he could not see what was happening exactly. "Clem! What are you doing!?"

"Trust me!" Clementine assured, waiting to move when the timing was perfect. Too quick or too long would not end well. She panicked slightly when the walker she attacked moved closer towards her but using her small size to her advantage, she ducked down and moved behind him and quickly pushed him off the edge. The walker went plummeting down towards the water below.

Clementine swiftly turned around when the remaining walker had approached. She quickly whacked her hammer into its chest when it got too close, but she had the hammer the other way around and it got stuck in its chest. She panicked and took a couple of steps back, but she almost lost her footing and would have fallen down below.

With nowhere to go and the walker closing in on her, she grabbed onto a bridge support beam and slid herself across it, hanging on for dear life.

She lost her hammer and had nothing to fight it with. She panicked as she pulled herself up towards the V-shaped support beams, only to be ambushed be the remaining walker.

Clementine cried out in fear as she fell down a little, grasping on for dear life. Enrico turned his head and caught a glimpse of her legs dangling and now he feared she was going to fall. Using all of her strength, Clementine was able to shimmy across and pull herself up to the V-shaped support beam.

The walker spotted her climb up and attempted to grab her, but Clementine was faster and moved out of the way, causing the walker to fall half-way through the support beam in the process. It did not take long for the walker to get free, and although they had no emotions, the walker looked angry. Clementine had to find a weapon fast!

She looked near the wooden tracks and saw three valuable weapons that could help her: Enrico's machete, Enrico's AK-47 and a pipe. Clementine had to think which weapon would be best for her. She was not strong enough to use the machete and would not be able to cut through the walker's head. The pole did not look that much useful and she was not strong enough to use it to impale him. And lastly, Enrico's AK-47, but that was not a good idea for two reasons: it would make noise and it would more than likely knock her down.

She only just realized she had a pistol in her pocket, but then she remembered she could not risk the noise.

Running out of time, Clementine swiftly picked up Enrico's machete and aimed for the walkers head. She impaled it through the move it an upwards position, but it did not kill it. She held the walker back for as long as she could to keep it in place. With one more push, Clementine impaled the machete move up that hit the walker's brain, finally killing it.

Clementine took a couple of breaths and dropped the machete down, but she could not rest until Enrico was safe. Now that it was clear again from above, she picked up the pipe and ran back towards the broken tracks and jumped down onto her stomach now that she could finally assist him.

Clementine leaned the pipe down and whacked against the injured walkers a couple of times, being careful not to drop it. She whacked him again, finally finishing him off. Clementine scooted over and handed the pipe to Enrico when he requested it.

"Quick, give me the pipe!" Enrico requested, but he was now somewhat calmer with the walker dead.

Clementine was not sure what use it was going to be now.

Enrico was beginning to lose his grip. He placed the pipe across the two sections of the girders and used it as a foothold to stand on. He was able to grab onto the railroad structure, just in the nick of time when the pipe slipped out from his foot. "Oomph!"

Enrico finally got up to safety and sat down onto the metal path to take a few breaths after he just escaped from the near death experience whilst Clementine merely stood there. He recovered after a moment and was grateful towards Clementine for her assistance. "Thank you, Clementine. You saved my life."

Clementine smiled slightly in response. She finally did something to repay him back after everything he did for her. "I guess we're even now. You saved my life, and now I saved yours."

"So we are." Enrico smiled as he knelt down to Clementine's height level.

The two of them hugged each other for a few seconds, both relieved that neither of them got injured and came out of that encounter unscathed. They only knew each other for a couple of days, but they had bonded so closely. Just like Clementine and Lee did.

After a few more seconds, Enrico ended their hug and retrieved his machete and placed it into his holster. "We better keep moving." he suggested, picking up his AK-47.

Clementine nodded in agreement as she knelt down to the walker's corpses and retrieved her hammer, this time with little effort. She followed Enrico down the bridge, and this time, they stuck to the metal path.

The duo moved past the handcar and continued their journey over to the other side of the bridge. However, before they continued going do, Enrico had spotted something in the distance that made him place his arm out in front of Clementine to keep her from moving past him.

Clementine looked confused at first until she spotted the same thing Enrico did. Both of them merely watched as someone was moving towards them, and it was certainly no walker and by the looks of it, he was armed with a gun. All they could do was wait and allow him to make the first move, and hopefully, he was not a bandit or worse.

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><p><strong>That brings us to the end of chapter 5. Clementine and Enrico have reached the mountains whilst the cabin group are beginning to feel guilty for what they did to Clementine. Now who could the mysterious stranger by on the bridge? Stay tuned for chapter 6 to find out. <strong>


	6. Chapter 6: I thought you were dead

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 6: "I thought you were dead"**

**Chapter 6 is at your door, ladies and gentlemen. Well, technically it's down below. Arg, I'm bad when it comes to jokes. But anyway, here's chapter 6, folks, and nothing much to say for this chapter. Enjoy.**

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><p>Clementine and Enrico looked off into the distance where the man began walking towards them down the bridge. Either he was going to simply greet them or probably rob them. All they could do was wait to find out.<p>

"It's okay, just keep it cool." Enrico assured Clementine whilst he kept his gun close to his chest, but he had his finger near the trigger just in case things went. "Let's just wait and see what he does."

"Let's just let him speak first." Clementine suggested, her eyes glued towards the man. She did not dare take her eyes off the man just in case he tried something.

The man stopped in his steps and finally said something to them; raising his voice so they could hear him from the distance he was standing in. "Well..."

"Well, what?" Enrico inquired in a somewhat loud tone.

"Well, who are you both?" the man inquired, sounding normal for now, but that voice could be a ruse to hide. This man was obviously not going to let them get past until he got the answers he wanted

"Just people trying to survive." Enrico assured whilst he arched a curious eyebrow. He turned back towards Clementine for help, confident that this man would not shoot a little girl. "If you want, feel to help me out here."

Clementine spoken up after keeping silent during the conversation between both men. She replied with the first thing that popped into her mind. "We're just passing through."

"Passing through, huh?" the man responded as he remained positioned in his spot. He continued to see neutral at the moment since he did hot have his weapon aimed at them. He spoke up a second time. "You both don't look like assholes. Are you guys assholes or you just normal people. I don't mean any offence, but you know how it is out here. You run into a lot of assholes who try and shoot you on the spot."

"We're just people." Clementine assured whilst rubbing her hand up against her arm.

"Yeah...Just people." Enrico agreed with the young girl.

The three of them stood quiet for a moment and were unsure what to say. Clementine merely stood there watching, Enrico had his AK-47 just in case and as for the stranger, he still remained where he was.

Before long had passed, the man continued marching towards them, finally getting close enough to reveal he his appearance. Clementine and Enrico could now see the man in clear view. He looked Asian-American, he looked around in his late twenties, and he had a small black moustache and wore a grey and black jacket with his hood over his head, and wore dark brownish cargo pants. And was armed with an M14 rifle.

He seemed friendly...For now, at least. He now seems to trust them enough to approach them and spoke in a friendly tone whilst standing only a few feet away. "I take it you guys are headed north like everyone else?"

""Everyone else?"" Enrico repeated whilst lowering his AK-47 down. He now had the feeling that he and Clementine was not the only people who have come across this bridge.

"I see at least one group a day move through here." the man replied. "You all look the same. It's like a great migration of the dazed and confused."

When the man had mentioned about people going through here often, it gave Clementine hope that Christa might have passed through here. It was a long shot, but it was worth asking nevertheless. "Have you seen someone named Christa?" she asked.

"Christa? I think." the man answered, but was not one-hundred percent sure.

Clementine's face brightened and her eyes widened slightly, gaining some hope that Christa was alive. "Really?!"

"Yeah, I mean no. Well, I'm not sure. A lot of people come through here. I don't know. It's hard to remember." the man admitted as he examined the duo. "I got to say, you two look tired. If you need food, I've got some canned food in that station back there."

"Really? Well, that's kind of you." Enrico replied with gratitude in his tone whilst he placed his hands to his hips. However, he suspected the man was going to want something in return for his services. "What do you want in return though?"

"Nothing. I've got plenty, really." the man reassured them, making himself looking even friendlier to the duo.

"Oh. Thank you, that's really generous of you." Enrico thanked, smiling across his face when he was glad not everyone in this world was bad, and there were still some good people out there.

"Hey, no problem. Nice running into friendly face out here." the man replied, feeling the same ways as Enrico did about meeting someone friendly for once in this day and age. "Like I said, I've got food and supplies back in the station. And if you want, you and your daughter here can stay at our ski lodge for the night."

Clementine and Enrico turned towards one another for a moment when the man had mistaken them to be father and daughter.

"Uh, she's not my daughter." Enrico responded whilst rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sister?" the man asked, but Enrico merely shook his head in response. "So, you both just friends?"

"Pretty much." Clementine shrugged, but at the same time, this all looked very familiar in a way. She remembered when Shawn Greene had mistook her as Lee's daughter, and as an excuse, Lee told Shawn he was her babysitter.

"Oh." the man nodded to assure he understood. Since they had just met and possibly would be with one another for a little while, he decided to introduce himself to the man and the young girl. "My name's Matthew." he lowered his rifle and offered them a handshake.

"Hi Matthew, I'm Clementine." Clementine introduced herself as they shook hands for a couple of seconds.

"Nice to meet you, Matthew, I'm Enrico." Enrico was the next one to introduce himself, and shook Matthew's hand when he ended the handshake with Clementine.

"Like wise." Matthew smiled, looking over the duo's shoulders for a moment to make sure no walkers or bandits were following them from behind. After all, that would be not end well. "I think we should get out of the open. Follow me."

Enrico nodded in agreement and he and Clementine followed Matthew to the end of the bridge. The duo felt like they could trust him and could tell that he was not like those four strangers they encountered a few days back. The followed Matthew towards the little station and stopped in their steps when Matthew had stopped and turned around.

"I'll go and get the cans, you both wait here." Matthew ordered before he opened the entrance door to the station and a moment later, he disappeared inside. Clementine assumed that it was the place he sleeps when he is keeping watch on the bridge.

Unsure on how long he was going to be, Clementine and Enrico decided to take a seat on a bench just outside of the station. Clementine placed her hands together and Enrico leaned back with his AK-47 rested in his lap. The two sat in silent for a little moment, not really having much to say to one another. He already thanked her for saving his life, of course.

"So, what do you think of Matthew?" Clementine spoke up after they had been silent for now. It was the first subject that just popped into her mind.

"He seems like a nice guy." Enrico agreed, but despite his kindness, Enrico still was prepared in case something were to go wrong, but he was confident that everything was fine. He decided to return the same question to the young girl. "What do you think, Clem?"

Clementine had to think about this for a moment. She had come across a lot of people who seemed friendly, but after seeing what they were truly like, she was cautious of everyone nowadays. The St. Johns, the stranger on the radio, and most important, people who use to be human but were now walkers. "I like him, too, he seems nice. Let's be careful though."

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Enrico agreed with a supportive smile.

The door to the station had opened and out came Matthew with two cans of food in his hand and his M14 in the other. He smiled slightly and offered the two cans over towards Enrico when he and Clementine stood up. "Here's some food for when you continue your journey. But you're still welcome to join us for the night. And no offence, Clem, but the girl on the can looks a little like you."

Clementine frowned slightly and folded her arms together whilst Enrico looked at the image at the cab and then showed it to her. She could see why they would think she shared a resemblance with the girl on the image.

Enrico chuckled slightly and placed the cans into his backpack. He thanked Matthew for his generosity whilst he picked up his AK-47 and kept it close to him. "Thank you for the food, Matthew. And we would be honored with we could stay, but will the rest of the group be okay with it?"

"It's no problem." Matthew assured the duo. "My partner and I have lived here for a while now. We use to come here quite often. That technically makes us both in charge. The only other people living with us are two others. You'll like them, trust me. One of them use to be a dad." he could see he was speaking too much and decided it was time to lead them back. "Geez, I talk too much. Well, if you both want to follow me, I'll escort you there."

Matthew turned around and preceded to head up the hill that would take them to the ski lodge, Clementine and Enrico followed behind a couple of feet behind, but both of them had their weapons raised in case this turned bad. But if Matthew was such a bad person, would he have given them those canned foods? Then again, Brenda St. John gave them biscuits and no-one could forget when their true forms were revealed.

It took a few minutes to climb up the hill and it was a little exhausting, but in the end, it was worth it in the end when they got up. Enrico had to take a couple of breaths since his backpack was slowing him down a little and going up a mountain hill did not exactly make that easier. He hoped it was comfortable inside, because he and Clementine certainly needed to rest.

"Never gets easier to climb." Matthew chuckled as they reached near the ski lodge where some of the windows were boarded up, possibly to prevent walkers or people to look inside or break in. "Come on, I'll take you both around."

Clementine decided to stick close to Enrico just in case things did not go as they planned. The three of them reached around the corner of the ski lodge and standing by the entrance was another man who Clementine assumed was Matthew's partner.

The man standing by the entrance had a bold head at the top, but he had grey hair around the back of his head with black sideburns. He looked around in his middle fifties; he wore a red and grey sweater with bluish jeans, and to top it off, his ethnicity looked Caucasian-American. He seemed like a friendly man.

"Ahh, Matthew, you're back." he greeted as the two hugged for a moment. He and Matthew leaned back out of the hug simultaneously. He waited until Matthew stood side before raising a smile across his face whilst placing his hands to his hips when his eyes met two new faces standing before him. "And I see you've brought back a couple of guests. It's a privilege to meet you both. I'm Walter."

"I'm Clementine." Clementine was the first to introduce herself with a smile across her face. She was happy to meet people that were friendly for once.

"And I'm Enrico." Enrico introduced himself next and offered a handshake to Walter to which the older man accepted. The two shook hands for a few seconds.

"Well, why don't we head inside?" Walter suggested, pointing his thumb towards the entrance to the ski lodge. "It's pretty cold out here, but there's a nice fire inside to keep you both warm. Come on in, I'll introduce you to our other guests."

Walter approached the ski lodge door and held it open until Clementine, Enrico and Walter were inside before following them inside. Once they were inside, Clementine and Enrico watched in amazement as they studied the sky lodge, seeing the entire place was full of decorations such as Christmas lights hanging around the ceilings and the wooden support beams, flags of different countries hanging on the ceilings, peaceful music feeling the air, a nice, a warm fire kept the entire place warm, and to top it off, there was a Christmas tree near the wooden stairs.

Walter moved beside Clementine and whilst both of them had were left speechless. He placed his hands to his hips as Matthew set his rifle down on a wooden stand. "Matthew, our friends and I have been here for quite a while now. It use to be a ski lodge, of course, so we have plenty of food. And believe it or not, we still get some power from that wind turbine out front. We tend to keep most of the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention. But after we found this stuff in storage, we couldn't resist making an exception."

"It's amazing." Clementine complemented as she eyed the Christmas tree in the corner of the ski lodge that still needed some decorations, but it looked great nevertheless.

"Wow, I've never seen such a wonderful place." Enrico admitted with a smile across his face. It had been a long while since he came inside somewhere so peaceful and normal.

"Thank you both. Matthew and I appreciate that you like it." Walter replied smiling, shifting his attention towards the same stand where Matthew had left his rifle. "You can leave your things right there."

Clementine and Enrico turned towards one another for a moment, unsure if they wanted to place their weapons down. But they both decided take a chance for once. Clementine set her Glock 22 on the table and Enrico set down his backpack, his Ak-47, and his machete down.

"Wonderful." Walter smiled as he walked up a couple of small steps. "Come with me, I'll introduce you both to our friends."

Clementine, Enrico and Matthew followed Walter towards a small living room area where they could see two figures sitting by the fire. The three of them stood still as Walter stepped forward and decided to introduce his people to their guests for the night.

"Hey guys, we have a couple of guests staying with us tonight." Walter announced in a cheerful tone.

The two stood up and walked over towards Walter to meet these new guests he mentioned. Clementine was about to greet them but instead, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. It...It was impossible. He was dead...She may have not been there to witness it, but she had been told by Christa and Omid that he died. She could not believe it. Was it all a dream?

Clementine stepped forward in front of Walter and continued to watch in shock as the person she recognized returned the same look. She was still in too much shock to say anything, but regardless of how much she tried to deny it, this was real and standing before her was a familiar face. "...Kenny?!"

That was right; the familiar face was no other than Kenny. She could not believe her eyes. It was Kenny! Christa had told Clementine he died trying to protect Ben, but here he was, standing in front of her.

"You know him, Clem?" Enrico inquired, but he did not get an answer from the young girl. He understood of course.

Kenny looked almost as shocked as Clementine did. He now had a grey-black beard all across his face that matched with his moustache. He wore a green jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and grey pants, but he still wore the same necklace and hat as before. He certainly remembered Clementine, all right. He would never forget that hat. "Clementine...?"

Without saying another word, Clementine ran towards Kenny who knelt down to Clementine's height with his arms open. The two reunited friends hugged each other closely with their eyes closed and almost looked like they were going to cry in happiness. Enrico, Walter, Matthew and Kenny's girlfriend Sarita could not help but smile at the scene.

"Kenny..." Clementine whispered whilst she had her head buried into his chest. She sounded like she wanted to cry in happiness. "I thought you were dead."

"Shh, it's all right, Clementine." Kenny soothed as a slight tear of happiness rolled down his eye but he wiped it away before anyone would notice. He was just so grateful to have her here in his arms. He believed it was fate that brought them together again and now he could never let her go again.

Kenny leaned out of the hug and placed his hands upon Clementine's shoulders with a smile across his face, but it was a little difficult to see under that beard. He leaned over her shoulder for a moment to see the Mexican man watching them. "Is he with you?"

"Yep." Clementine nodded.

Walter watched in happiness when the two were reunited. He remembered Kenny mentioning his old group, but he never thought he would have the chance to meet one of them. A small world after all. He decided to give them some privacy to catch up. "Hey Matthew, why don't you and I start dinner? Sarita, can you sure Enrico where he can sleep for the night?"

"Of course." Sarita nodded in agreement as she walked towards the stairs and guided Enrico with her. Sarita was a woman in with long black hair down to the top of her back. She looked around in her early thirties, she wore a light blue hoodie with dark blue jeans, she had a piercing in her nose, and to top it off, her ethnicity was Indian-American. "I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Enrico." Enrico introduced with a slight smile.

"Nice to meet you, Enrico, I'm Sarita." she introduced with a slight smile across her face. She began to escort him upstairs. "Come with me, I'll show you where you can sleep."

"Thank you." Enrico thanked and followed his new friend up the stairs.

Now that Clementine and Kenny were alone, the two proceeded towards the living room near the warm fire to catch up on old times.

Clementine and Kenny merely stared at one and other for a moment, not exactly sure what to say.

"Still wearing this dirty old thing, huh?" Kenny teased, raising his right hand to tap the tip of Clementine's hat.

"You're one to talk." Clementine returned the tease as she eyed Kenny's hat.

Kenny merely chuckled in response before getting back to the previous subject. This was the first time he saw Clementine without her guardian with her, the man who protected. "You know, for some reason, I had the feeling I'd see Lee walk up next to you. You guys were like two peas in a pod." his smile dropped for a moment when he just realized what he said. "Oh, shit, I didn't mean to say...It's just hard not to think about it, you know? But after...After I was gone...What happened...When you were kidnapped...?"

Clementine lowered her head for a moment, feeling like she could cry in sadness, but found she had no tears to cry out. She turned back towards Kenny with her expression full of sadness. "Lee saved me."

"I knew he would save you. That guy had a fire in him, sure as shit." Kenny expressed his gratitude towards Lee for everything he did for them. He sighed for a moment as he thought back to all the times he and Lee helped one and other. "Lee and I had our differences, that's for sure. When my son...Well...he took care of him. I'll never forget that." he shrugged off the memory of his best friend and changed the subject between them. "So what happened to you?"

"After Lee, I was alone. I found Christa and Omid, but...it didn't last." Clementine answered, still showing a sad expression on her face. "Omid, well, he didn't make it. I got separated from Christa a couple of nights ago. I got a bit by a dog and these people found me, but they didn't believe me and locked me in a shed. I escaped and Enrico found me. He took care of me until we arrived."

"Those motherfuckers..." Kenny grumbled quietly to himself and clutched his hand into a fist, but he was not about to let his temper get the best of him. He could imagine what Clementine had been going through over these past two years. "I'm sorry, darling. I wish I could have found you sooner. But you're here now and I promise, everything's going to be okay."

Although Clementine was more than happy to be with Kenny again, there was a question she could not get off of her mind: how was Kenny here? "Kenny, Christa told me you were dead. What happened?"

"Wow, that's a long story." Kenny admitted, rubbing the back of his head for a moment. "Well, for some reason, I tried to save that fucking shitbird Ben. Then it turned into a damn cluster. Couldn't help the kid and had to put him out of his misery, but I got out by fighting. Long story short, I got lucky. Real lucky. Spend a long time alone after that. It, uh...And then I met Sarita, thank God. Gosh, it's great to have you back."

At almost perfect timing with the end of his sentence, Sarita had returned and placed her left hand upon Kenny's shoulder. "You two catching up?"

"Clem, this is my girlfriend, Sarita." Kenny introduced them both, turning towards his girlfriend for a moment. "Ain't she beautiful?"

"Nice to meet you, Clementine." Sarita greeted smiling.

"Hey, Walt, Matthew, you guys started dinner yet?" Kenny inquired, raising his voice slightly for the two men to hear him.

"Just about to do it now." Walter answered, walking towards the cafeteria to prepare dinner. "I'll get started. Give me a hand, Matthew."

"I'm coming." Matthew replied, walking with his partner to help with dinner.

"Clem, why don't you help Walt and Matthew with dinner?" Kenny suggested before he left the area to go and do some work of his own. "I'm going to go and bring some supplies in."

"Need any help?" Enrico offered after he came back downstairs.

"Sure, could do with a hand carrying some supplies in." Kenny replied, but before they left, he offered a handshake to Enrico and decided to express how grateful he was for bringing Clementine back to him. "Hey, thanks for taking care of Clementine for me. You're a good man."

"It's no problem. I wouldn't jst leave her die out there." Enrico assured as they shook her hands with one another.

Kenny and Enrico left to fetch some supplies from outside, Sarita went to put some stuff away, and Walter and Matthew made dinner together. Now that everyone had something to keep them occupied for a while, Clementine made her way towards the cafeteria to help out with dinner like Kenny suggested. But she was without a doubt the happiest she had been in a long time.

She was in a place that she could call home and she was reunited with Kenny and had nice people around here. Maybe things were going to be okay after.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 is completed, folks. Our season 1 group member Kenny has returned and now he and Clementine are reunited. Together, all of them can survive if they stick together as one. If you are liking the story so far, then stay tuned for chapter 7.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7: firefight

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 7: firefight**

**_"That little girl's in my care. We've been through more together than you can imagine. Anyone who tries to get between me and her - anyone!- is gonna wind up dead. You hear me?" _-Lee ****Everett.**

**Hey, everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here. Since my author's note can be a little boring, I decided from now on to add a quote or a question at the beginning for you readers. Anyway, here's chapter 7 and enjoy reading, folks.**

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><p>The next morning, the cabin group all sat together around the dining table whilst eating their breakfast, eating in silence. Like before, some of them were still feeling guilty about putting Clementine into the shed, and Rebecca, who was the most distrustful of Clementine, was now feeling a wave of guilt herself. Everyone was, except for Sarah, that is, who was not responsible for locking her in a shed. She even helped out by giving her peroxide.<p>

Before long, Luke had finished his breakfast and excused himself to go to the bathroom. He proceeded through the living room and was about to head upstairs, but something caught them glimpse of his eye outside. He turned around and walked towards the window, carefully looking outside.

Luke's eyes widened when he took one good look at the woods to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. He silently gasped when four familiar faces emerged from the woods with two more unfamiliar faces. "Oh, fuck!"

Quick as the speed of light, Luke swiftly turned around and sprinted into the kitchen, hurrying to warn to warn them of the danger ahead. "CARVER'S HERE!"

The second the name Carver was mentioned, everyone's faces dropped and now they looked fearful, especially Rebecca and Sarah. He found them. He was coming to take them back to their community where they would forever be his slaves. No. That was not happening. Everyone was tired of fearing Carver and it was time to put an end to it right here and right now.

Carlos, acting as the group's leader, was quick to act and prepared them to put up a defensive vision. He spoke fast before it was too late. "Luke, Pete, Nick, Alvin, all of you grab a gun! Rebecca, you and Sarah need to get upstairs and stay there and don't come down no matter what, understood?!"

Everyone spoke together in unison as they quickly got up and ran in different directions. Luke, Nick, Pete, Alvin quickly assured the doctor they knew what they were doing as they ran away into separate directions.

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

"Yeah!"

"We got it!"

Carlos had to help out, but before he left, he had to talk to his daughter to comfort her, but he had to be quick when time was clearly not on their side at this point. He quickly knelt down to her and placed his hand upon her shoulder. "Sweetie, I need you go upstairs and stay there, okay? Rebecca will take care of you!"

Sarah did not respond, but instead, she embraced her father in a hug. She loved him very much and did not know what to do if he got hurt. "Daddy..."

"It's okay, Sarah, it's okay." Carlos assured as he gently stroked her hair for a few seconds to comfort her, but he had to let her go in order to keep everyone safe. "Now go upstairs and don't come out, no matter what. Quick, go!"

Sarah nodded in agreement, as much as she did not want to. She turned around and headed for the stairs, Rebecca followed closely. The two of them went into Sarah's bedroom where it would be safe and sat down onto the ground. All they could do was wait and hope no-one in their group would get hurt, or worse.

"It'll be okay, honey." Rebecca assured in a soothing tone. She slowly moved her arms around Sarah and helped comfort the young girl until it was over.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cabin group armed themselves with weapons. Pete grabbed a Winchester Model 17 whilst using his crossbow as a back-up weapon now that he strapped onto his back. He turned towards Nick when they were getting their weapons and hoped his nephew would stay safe and not try anything stupid. But all he could do was wait. Quickly, he ran towards one of the front windows and smashed it open. He now waited until it was time to attack.

Luke grabbed himself a Glock 17 and took cover behind another window facing the outside. He peaked up for a moment to see Carver and the rest of his group were getting close, but all he could for now was wait until Carver made the first move. He leaned back against the wall with his pistol at the ready.

Alvin had just finished pushing the kitchen table towards the back door to block it off in case some more of Carver's men were trying to sneak up from behind them. He grabbed himself a Glock 17 and decided to take cover with Luke.

Nick grabbed himself a Winchester Model 17 and went upstairs into Carlos' bedroom and got himself into a sniping position by the window where he could see everything. It would serve as a height advantage. He hoped his bad accuracy would not lead him and his people to their downfall.

And lastly, Carlos grabbed himself a Beretta 92FS Inox before heading to the front door of the cabin. Everyone was in position and it was time to defend themselves. Carlos opened the door slightly and peaked out to see Carver with Troy, Bonnie, Johnny, Hank and Stan holding position. All of them with them exception of Carver were armed with AK-47's. Carver spotted Carlos and raised an evil smirk across his face.

"Carlos, good to see." Carver greeted in a somewhat sarcastic tone. He placed his hands to his hips and watched as the doctor opened the door half-way but remained in cover just in case.

"Leave now, Carver!" Carlos warned whilst he reloaded a magazine into his pistol.

Carver merely chuckled in response, unaffected to his threats. He decided to point out the obvious whilst beckoning for his people to hold their weapons back for now. "Carlos, Carlos. You're a smart man, look at the facts: my people are armed with automatic weapons and are well trained and all you have are a couple of pistols. Now can do this in two ways. Number one: we can all just go back home nice and quietly, and all of you will be forgiven. Or number two: we shoot up that cabin and bring you all home by force. Your choice."

During his speech, Luke, Alvin and Nick silently growled as they wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in him right now, but shooting now would result in consequences.

"We ARE not coming back with you, Carver!" Carlos shouted, refusing to go down without a fight. He would give his life if it meant protecting the people he loved. "We have nothing to apologize for. You are a madman, hurting others if it means getting your way. We all not bargain with your terms."

Carver sighed and beckoned for his people to raise them their weapons. All five of them raised their AK-47's simultaneously and prepared to shoot once Carver gave the word. All but one of them that is: Bonnie, who looked somewhat nervous.

Carver took a couple of steps back and took out his Colt Python, ready to take back the cabin group by force. He was getting them back, one way or another, especially Rebecca. "I really wished you didn't say that, Carlos, but now you leave us no choice. EVERYONE, ready your weapons!"

They loaded their rifles.

"Take aim!"

They took aim.

"And fi-"

Before Carver could finish, a single gunshot erupted through the air and down went one of Carver's people Hank. The remaining people were left confused slightly and in the act of panic, they opened fire on the cabin whilst separating in different directions to avoid being shot.

Carver took cover behind a tree and leaned out to see the man responsible for killing one of his men. He shot a hateful look towards him whilst getting his gun ready. "That was a big, fucking mistake, Nicolas!"

Nick did not care what he said. When he shot Hank, Nick had actually been aiming towards Carver but in the act of panic, he missed and hit the wrong person. At least he hit someone at least. He pumped his rifle again and began to open fire again.

Both groups continued firing bullets towards one another, severally damaging the cabin the process, but their bullets had not yet penetrated through the wood.

Luke leaned his head up for just a second to catch a glimpse of Stan taking cover behind a tree whilst shooting towards Pete, but he had to duck when Troy opened fire in his direction. He had an idea, a risky one, but it may just work. "Carlos!" he yelled as loud as he could, but the gunfire drained out his voice.

"What is it!?" Carlos shouted whist blind firing out of the door. He got back into cover when he needed to reload his gun.

"I can get a shot on one of them, but I need you to distract Troy!" Luke explained his plan as he peaked up for a second to see Troy was still trying to shoot him. Just in case Carlos forgot, he decided to remind him which one he was shooting at. "He's the one in the camouflage clothes!"

Carlos nodded in agreement, willing to try anything at this point if it meant bringing them closer to victory. "Okay. I'll tell you when to shoot..." he waited for the right timing until no-one was shooting in his direction. "Okay...NOW!"

Carlos leaned out of cover and fired several shots towards Troy, causing him to cease firing and to take cover back behind a tree. Luke took his chance now that he was no longer being shot at and jumped up, firing two rounds towards Stan. The first one missed, but the second one hit him in the chest and in a second, he collapsed onto his back. Two down, four to go.

"Good work." Carlos praised before searching into the woods for his next target.

Pete fired a few rifle rounds towards Johnny, but before long, he heard his gun click. "Shit!" he cursed as he dropped his rifle and retrieved his crossbow. He only had a couple of arrows left and had to make them count, but it was going to be difficult to get a clear shot.

Behind cover with the rest of Carver's people, Bonnie took cover behind a boulder as she reloaded another magazine into her gun, but by the looks of her face, she looked fearful. She attempted to convince Carver to leave for two reasons: she did not want to kill people she was friends with and did not want to die. "Bill, let's just leave! We've lost two of our own, it's not worth it!"

"Not worth it?!" Carver snapped, firing a couple of powerful rounds towards the cabin before having to reload. "Those people in there disrespected us, threw away a great life we were trying to build for them, and you want to forgot about it? I can't do that, Bonnie! Now keep firing!"

Bonnie sighed in response, but did as she was told.

Carver mainly had his sights towards Luke who had not yet moved position. He fired a few rounds from his rifle through the wood of the cabin and smirked to see he was victories. A bullet had gone through the wood and Luke was no longing firing.

"Ahh, fuck!" Luke cried out as he dropped to the ground and clutched onto his now injured left leg. He crawled away using one arm to safety. "My leg!"

Carlos gasped when watching his friend injured and was about run over to assist him, but Luke ordered him to remain where he was. "Luke!"

"Don't worry about me!" Luke assured, picking up his Glock 17 that he slid over towards Alvin. "Keep shooting!"

Carlos had no intention of leaving him like that, but for the sake of survival, he nodded and continued firing, his sights focused on Troy.

Carver could see he was not making much progress and decided to cease firing for a moment. He slowly snuck through the woods and began to make his way around towards behind the cabin.

Pete picked up his last arrow and kissed it for good luck. He loaded it into his crossbow and leaned up where Johnny no longer was firing towards him, but instead, he was firing up towards the bedroom where Nick was shooting from. Now that he had more time, he closed one eye and loaded up perfect aim towards Johnny, and slowly, he pulled the trigger.

Johnny spotted Pete aiming towards him and at the last second, he attempted to move out the way. He was lucky the arrow did not hit him in the head where Pete was aiming, but instead, it went directly through his shoulder and was stuck in there. He cried out and dropped his AK-47. "Fuck, fuck! I'm getting out of here!"

Troy watched as Johnny turned around and ran away into the woods and yelled out towards him in an attempt to stop him. "Hey! Get the fuck back here, you fucking pussy!"

Johnny did not listen and continued running away until he was no longer in plain sight. Bonnie had caught this, but she could not blame him for trying to escape. Instead, it gave her an idea to join him. "He's right, Troy, let's go!" Bonnie called out as she ceased firing and followed Johnny into the woods to escape the firefight.

"Cowards, the both of you! Wait until Bill here's about this!" Troy shouted, but whilst he was yelling, he distracting himself too much to realize he was out in the open. Nick, seeing this perfect opportunity, took aim and fired towards Troy, but he ended up hitting him in the shoulder.

"Motherfucker!" Troy cried out and clutched his shoulder for a second, but he was not willing to give up yet. He got back into cover and continued firing his AK-47 towards them, aiming for anywhere that was part of the cabin.

Whilst the cabin group was too busy dealing with Troy, they were unaware of the intruder behind them. Carver smashed one of the windows to the kitchen from behind and jumped inside. With all gunfire going on, it drained out the sounds of him entering the cabin and no-one knew. Carlos was too busy shooting at Troy, Pete had no ammunition and could only watch, Alvin ran out of bullets too, and Luke was defenceless.

Carver pushed open the kitchen door and smirked when he saw three targets standing before him. Capturing only one of them would result in him winning this battle. They were weak and that's what gave him in the advantage. Slowly, he pulled out his Colt Python and began marching towards Carlos.

Carver raised his Colt Python and pulled back the back strap. He aimed directly towards Pete, seeing him as the weakest one here who he was willing to sacrifice. He slowly moved his finger to pull the trigger, but just as he was about to pull it fully, he had suddenly lost his balance and a large force sent him flying to the ground.

Alvin had appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. He grabbed onto Carver's gun and attempted to get it out of his hands before he could fire. He punched Carver once and finally knocked the gun out of his hand that went sliding across the ground.

Carver grabbed Alvin by his neck and punched him directly in the face, sending him down onto his back. He got down on top of Alvin and proceeded to beat him down into submission. "You remember George, Alvin!? You remember when you killed him!? Just so you and your bitch wife could escape!"

Alvin tried to block his attacks, but he was not the best when it came to hand-to-hand combat. He was going to die if Carver continued like this.

Carver continued his attack for a few more seconds, causing Alvin's face to swell up slightly but before he continued further, a powerful hit collided with his stomach that caused him to groan and clutch his stomach. Pete had kicked him down.

Nick came rushing down the stairs and his eyes widened when he saw Luke injured and Carver in their house. "Oh, shit!" he cursed and dropped his now empty rifle onto the ground. He quickly shoved Carver down before he got up and grabbed a Glock 17, firing a single round into Carver's leg.

Carver groaned and fell down onto the ground, but he didn't look as hurt as the average man would be. "That all you got?"

Nick kicked his foot against his injured leg, causing him to cry out in pain. He got down onto his knees, pinning Carver down and proceeded to beat down Carver, letting out all of his anger. He hit him with his left fist, then his right fist, and continued repeating the same tactic over and over again. "You motherfucker! You piece of shit! Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!"

Carlos picked up one of the Glock 17's and slid it over towards Pete to which the older man caught. He had a plan, and for it to work, they had to work together. "Pete, when I say so, both of us will fire at him. He will be confused and we will have the advantage. Don't stop firing, understood!?"

"Let's do it!" Pete agreed as he checked the rounds in his Glock 17 to make certain he had ammunition.

"Okay...Ready...NOW!" Carlos shouted.

Quick as a flash, Carlos opened the door and Pete jumped up towards the window, and both men fired at Troy simultaneously. With both of them working together, they were able to hit Troy in the crotch that caused him to cry out in agony in a girlish voice and dropped his AK-47, leaving him defenseless and open to attack.

"AHHHHHHH!" Troy screamed as he grabbed onto his bleeding crotch. Tears were actually filling in his eyes and blood leaking out from his camouflage pants. "YOU SHOT MY DICK OFF! MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Pete raised his Glock 17 and finished Troy off with a headshot. He sighed at dropped his gun to the ground. The war was now over and the cabin group had won. Although the gunfire shootout had finished, everyone turned around to sounds of something groaning and the sounds of what sounded like a fist coming into contact with something. And lying outside the kitchen was a bleeding Alvin.

"Alvin!" Carlos shouted, immediately running to Alvin's aide. He knelt down and placed two of his fingers against his neck and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned towards the kitchen and burst inside to investigate the commotion, Pete followed him. Both of them were surprised to see Carver was inside their house, but what surprised them more is that Nick was beating him down and his knuckles were bleeding heavily.

Much to Nick's surprise, Carver was still alive despite the many hits he had taken, but his face was three time was swollen as Alvin's and one of his eyes were just about open. Nick took a break and panted heavily whilst Carver merely coughed up blood in response that smeared across Nick's shirt.

Carver chucked in between coughs and looked up towards the man pinning him down. He could not deny that he was in pain, but he could deny that he was not afraid despite being outnumbered and defenseless. "Is that all you got, you little shit? I thought with a temper like your mothers, you could hit harder. A shame, I liked her."

Now he had pushed Nick to his breaking bite. He gritted his teeth and curled his hands into his fists before resuming his rage of fury against Carver. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!BASTARD! MOTHERFUCKER! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" he placed his hands against Carver's throat and began to choke him.

"Nick!" Pete yelled as he grabbed his nephew and pulled him back to prevent him from hitting him further. He gripped placed his arms under Nick's arms and then placed both of his hands against the back of Nick's neck, preventing him from moving further. "Nick, calm down. That's just what he wants. Please, don't let your anger get the best of you."

Nick hesitated and wanted nothing more than to kill Carver with his bare hands, but for the sake of his uncle, he calmed down and stopped struggling. Pete let him go and Nick walked a couple of feet away, but he remained in the kitchen and crossed his arms together.

Carver coughed up more flood but kept a smirk raised across his face. He looked up to see Carlos holding a Glock 17 towards him, preparing to end this once and for all. But even despite being beaten and held at gunpoint, Carver was not afraid. Instead, he laughed. "You really think killing me will end it? My people will be back for all of you and there's nothing you can do. You kill me; someone will simply take my place. You have nothing you can use to stop us."

"That may be true." Carlos agreed as he clicked the gun using his thumb. "But at least we won't have to fear a madman like you!" without hesitation, Carlos pulled the trigger and a single bullet shout straight through Carver's forehead. Finally, he was dead and the cabin group no longer had to fear him ever again.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment and turned towards one another, giving a nod as to assure each other that they did the right thing. They stood in silence for a moment or two, unsure on what to say at this point. But it was over and they had won. They had finally killed William Carver, the psychopath who they had feared for a long time now. But all that matters was that it was over.

The trio left his corpse there and proceeded into the living room where Luke was still sitting in the same position, and Alvin was now up under his own strength, but he still looked badly injured.

"Shit, Alvin." Pete swore and quickly assisted the older man, helping him sit down on one of the couches.

"Luke!" Carlos gasped, running over towards the injured man with Nick following closely. He and Nick each took one of his arms and escorted him towards the opposite couch, helping him sit down to take care of his injury. "You're going to be okay."

"Did you guys get that bastard?" Alvin inquired as he felt his face using his hand to notice he was bruised badly, but he was fine and surprisingly, his glasses were undamaged.

"We got him." Nick confirmed. "It's over now."

"Is it over!?" a familiar voice called out from the top of the stairs.

"Yes, it's over!" Carlos assured whilst he knelt down to Luke and rolled up his jeans, carefully examining his wound. He noticed Luke groaning in pain when he examining his leg, but if he wanted to walk normal again, he would have to cope.

Rebecca and Sarah emerged downstairs and the first thing they did was run to their loved ones. Rebecca embraced Alvin in a hug when she noticed his injuries and began to cry in sadness and happiness. "Alvin!"

"It's okay, Bec." Alvin assured, returning the hug to his pregnant wife.

Carlos stood up and embraced Sarah into a hug, gently holding her close. He was glad to have her with him again safe and sound, but he had to let her go for a while until Luke's injury was stabilized. "I have to take care of Luke, sweetie. Can you do me a favor and get my medical things from my room?"

Sarah nodded and ran upstairs the second her father had requested a favor. She gathered up pretty much everything she could find and ran back downstairs, placing everything down onto the coffee table.

"Thank you, Sarah." Carlos thanked as he picked up a rug and peroxide and mixed the two together. He gently placed the rug against Luke's leg without warning it was going to sting, and the latter groaned silently and tried his best not to move. "I know it hurts, Luke, but you got lucky. The bullet went right through so you don't need to worry about infection. I am certain it will recover, but it will take some time."

The group stood together in silence in the same living room. It was a miracle no-one got killed, even despite Luke being hit in the leg and Alvin being beaten down but they would recover in time. The cabin was several damaged and no doubt those gun shots had attracted walkers.

As Carlos attended to Luke's injury, he spoke up their next plan of action. "We need to leave."

All his eyes turned towards him.

"What? Why?" Nick inquired, folding his arms together a second time. He liked this cabin and had no intention of leaving.

"We may have defeated Carver, but a couple of his people escaped and no doubt they will be back." Carlos explained as he set down the rug and searched his medical supplies bag for more supplies. "I don't like it either, but I am certain they will return. Let's just pack up our things while I attend to Luke."

The rest of the cabin group did not wish to leave, but Carlos was right about more of them coming if they stuck around and with their leader dead, they would without a doubt try to hunt them down. Nick and Pete went to gather the weapons and search outside for ammunition, Alvin and Rebecca went to pack everything, and Sarah simply stood there with her hands placed together innocently.

"Dad, where are we doing?" Sarah inquired. She loved the cabin very much and did not want to leave outside where it was unsafe.

Carlos looked up towards Luke who gave him a nod as to tell him to go ahead and speak to his daughter. He stood up and approached his daughter, placing his hand upon her shoulder as he looked into her eyes behind those rose-tinted glasses. He did not want to take her outside where the dead roamed the Earth, but he had no choice. "We have to leave, sweetie before more bad people turn up. I promise, we'll find somewhere safe. Why don't you got upstairs and pack your things?"

Sarah nodded in agreement and went upstairs to pack some things, but she did not have much. She packed a couple of spare clothes and her book into a backpack. She felt a little nervous going outside when Carlos did his best to shelter her, but she trusted her father and was confident that he would keep her safe.

A little while had passed and the group was ready to go. Carlos and Alvin each carry a big backpack with all of their remaining supplies; Sarah had her own things in her own backpack, Nick carried his Winchester Model 70 and an AK-47 on his back, Pete carried his Winchester Model 70 with his crossbow strapped to his back, and Luke carried his own AK-47 that he used for a cane with a Glock 17 and a machete as backup. Rebecca had nothing to carry and that was due to her pregnancy.

"What do we have with us?" Luke asked as he struggled to stand for a moment, but eventually got the hang of using one leg without putting too much pressure on the other.

"Two-week's worth of food, a few medical supplies, and a couple of rifle and pistol rounds." Carlos answered in detail.

"They left their weapons outside and we took two of them." Pete answered, turning towards Pete and Luke who each had an automatic rifle. "We got plenty of machine gun ammo."

"Then we're good." Luke stated as he grabbed the map from the coffee table and turned towards the now damaged front door. It was time to leave their home. "Okay, ya'll, let's hit the road."

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><p><strong>And that brings us to the end of this chapter, ladies and gents. The cabin has been attacked, Carver is dead and the cabin group were now heading north in an attempt to outrun the rest of Carver's community. Hope you all enjoyed the firefight. Keep your updates open for chapter 8.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8: hunting day

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 8: hunting day  
><strong>

**Assassin's Creed Master here everyone, and before we begin the chapter, here's a question for you fellow readers: What ending in season 2 did you considered to be the canon ending? My personally is either the one where Clementine stays at Wellington or the one where Clementine leaves with Kenny and AJ. Let me know in the reviews or Private Messaging. **

**In the meantime, here's the next chapter.**

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><p>Clementine woke up after a goodnight's sleep for the first time in a long while. The ski lodge she was staying in had a few bedrooms upstairs for more around ten people. She could not tell what time it was, but could definitely tell that it was morning when the sun shinned through the window, but her hate protected her eyes from the sun.<p>

"This bed is comfortable. I haven't had this much sleep since..." Clementine paused and thought back to the motor inn, but she quickly shrugged off the memory before it brought back bad memories. She decided to get up and go and see what the others were up to.

Clementine exited her bedroom and proceeded to head downstairs where all of her friends were present. Kenny and Sarita were sitting in the living room together talking, Enrico was in the kitchen eating some peaches and beans, and Walter and Matthew were washing dishes together.

The first thing on her mind was breakfast. Clementine proceeded towards the kitchen and sat down on the same table as Enrico, sitting opposite from him. "Morning, Enrico."

"Morning, Clementine." Enrico greeted whilst he was eating his breakfast. He set down the spoon for a moment and took a sip of water until he decided to make conversation with the young girl. "Did you sleep well?"

"Best I've slept in a long time." Clementine answered.

"No argument here." Enrico agreed, he too having a good sleep since all of this began.

Just as a moment passed, Walter joined the duo at the table with a bowl of food in his hand. He set down in front of Clementine, saving her from getting up to get it herself. "Here's your breakfast, Clementine."

"Thanks, Walter." Clementine gratefully thanked and picked up her spoon. Although she and Walter had only met the previous day, she liked Walter as a friend and he and Matthew were such nice people. She picked up her spoon and proceeded to eat her breakfast. It was not the best breakfast in the world, but nowadays, she was grateful to have any type of food.

As she continued eating, Kenny and Sarita had joined them in the table and by the looks of Kenny's face, he was still happy yet surprised to have Clementine with him again. Out of all the places in the world, the two were reunited and together again.

"This is a great place you guys got here." Enrico spoke up out of the blue and complimented the ski lodge group.

"Thanks, but we're planning on heading up north soon." Kenny responded, causing Clementine to put down her food for a moment and turn her head up towards him. "You guys every heard of Wellington?"

"As a matter of fact, we have." Enrico nodded, turning towards Clementine for approval. "Clem and I were heading there together."

"That's great." Sarita agreed, placing her hand upon her boyfriend's wrist. "Maybe you guys could stay with us for a while and when the time comes, we can all leave together?"

Kenny arched an eyebrow for a moment, but he nodded nevertheless. He was grateful to have Clementine sitting a mere foot in front of him and Enrico was the one who was taking care of her until they arrived. He could use an extra pair of hands around here, too. "That sounds like a good idea to me, but it's up to Clementine and Enrico, of course."

"Anything to stay out of the cold." Enrico agreed with a smile rose slightly across his face. "Thank you, Kenny, thank you, Sarita. It's hard to believe there are still some good people out there."

"Amen to that." Kenny agreed, having the same mutual feeling as the man sitting on the opposite side of him. He was glad to meet someone who was not a bandit or a thief like Enrico.

Before long had passed, the group were finished eating and decided to get some work done for the day. Walter and Matthew got to work on building some blanks of wood on the outside windows to avoid people or walkers looking outside, Sarita decided to wash up, and as for Kenny, he decided it was time to get out of this ski lodge for a while. He decided to take Clementine and Enrico with him.

"Hey ya'll, Clem, Enrico and I are going hunting for a while, see if we can find some meat to cook." Kenny announced as he picked up his Winchester Model 70 and checked the ammunition inside. He turned towards the duo who were standing by the doorway, ready to go. "We'll be back soon."

"Hold on for a minute!" Sarita called out to them and ran towards the back of the ski lodge.

Kenny turned towards Clementine and shrugged as he was saying "I don't know."

Sarita came rushing back towards her boyfriend and her friends with a small blue ski jacket in her hands with a rainbow strip in the center. She turned towards Clementine and offered her the jacket. "I found this jacket in the storage room and it looks like it would fit Clementine. It's getting cold lately."

"Aww, ain't that sweat." Kenny smiled as he and Sarita shared a quick peck. He leaned back and averted his eyes towards Clementine, who kindly accepted the jacket and placed it over her torso. "Well, what do you think, Clem?"

Clementine zipped up the jacket and much to her relief, it fit perfectly. Although she admitted blue was not her favorite color, she was grateful for the jacket that would help keep her warm, especially in this weather. "I like it, thanks, Sarita."

"Of course." Sarita smiled and nodded. She wished them the best and hoped they would return safe and sound. "I'll see you three later, and be careful."

"We'll be all right, Sarita." Kenny assured with a supportive smile across his face. He turned around with his rifle held in his hands and proceeded to walk outside. "Let's go ya'll before we get another snow storm."

Clementine, Kenny and Enrico had been walking into the woods for around twenty minutes now, and so far, no sign of any animal worth catching. There were birds flying around the area, but what good would catching one of them do? They were not worth shooting and waiting ammunition that would more than likely.

"So, Enrico, you're a doctor then?" Kenny spoke out of the blue whilst he was keeping an eye out for any walkers or animals.

"Almost." Enrico nodded as he followed Kenny with his AK-47 over his shoulder. Clementine still had his Glock 22 and he allowed her to keep it. "I went to medical school for a few years, but just before I graduated, that's when all hell broke loose. What about you, Kenny?"

"As Clementine knows, I was a commercial fisherman." Kenny answered, but he closed his eyes for a second and the painful memory of his wife and son dying before him flashed in his mind. He thought he enjoyed his job because it was good to be alone for a while, but now he realized how much he missed them. "I was catching anything that paid really."

"Sounds interesting." Enrico responded.

"I...I always use to think my job was great because I could get away from my family for a while, but now...Now I realized how much I miss them." Kenny closed his eyes for a second time and tried his best not to show tears. He would not dare let himself cry in front of Clementine and Enrico.

Enrico could tell Kenny was beginning to get upset and decided to help comfort him with some words he told himself every time he was beginning to lose hope. "I know the feeling, Kenny...

Kenny and Clementine turned towards him.

"Everyone I loved and cared for are gone. I sometimes wonder what's the point of going on when no matter what we do, the walkers always win. But I won't give up hope. I won't take coward's way out. I will keep fighting and stuck with the people I care about no matter what." Enrico finished and gave the duo a supportive smile.

Kenny nodded in agreement, feeling somewhat relieved to hear those words from the younger man. He remained silent for now and continued to lead the one.

The trio continued walking through the woods in an attempt to hunt down some animals that they could catch for food. So far their search had been a waste of time and they found nothing. That is until they stumbled across three other survivors.

One of them had short brown hair with a normal sized brown beard and looked around in his early thirties. He wore a brown leather jacket with a white shirt underneath and black pants, he looked Caucasian-American. And to top it off, he wore a brown holster belt with a Colt Python attached to it, a similar gun to William Carver's except his was a six round gun whilst Carver's only held four.

The second one had longish black hair that went down to his neck and he looked around ten-years-old. He wore a jean jacket with science dog t-shirt and blue jeans and a brown sheriff hat, he looked Caucasian-American. He wore a black holster belt with a Beretta 92FS pistol attached.

And as for the last one, he had long black hair down to his neck with a brown goatee and looked around in his middle thirties. He wore a long black sleeved shirt with a bluish leather vest over it and brown paints, he looked Caucasian-American. He was armed with a crossbow that he carried over his shoulder.

Quick as a flash, Kenny aimed his rifle and Enrico aimed his Ak-47 towards the three survivors, who in turn, aimed their Colt Python and Crossbow towards them. Clementine and the other kid decided to simply stand there despite the fact both of them had weapons of their own. All they could do at this point was wait and hope the conflict ends.

"Drop the fucking gun!" Kenny ordered, his sights aimed at the man with the Colt Python.

"No, you drop yours, both of you!" the man with the crossbow ordered.

"You think I'm scared of some punk with a crossbow?" Kenny mocked, his finger prepared to pull the trigger.

"Just drop the gun." the man with the Colt Python spoke up.

"Look, we're not here for trouble. Let's just all stay calm and nobody has to get hurt." Enrico told them, unwilling to shoot down a couple of survivors at this point, especially ones who had a kid with them.

The man with the Colt Python averted his eyes towards Clementine who was standing behind Kenny. His expression somewhat softened when he noticed they had a kid with them. He turned towards his ally but still kept his gun raised. "Daryl, they've got a kid with them."

Daryl shifted his eyes towards Clementine just for a second but he did not lower his weapon.

"Look, if we put our guns down, you put your guns down at the same time, okay?" the man with the Colt Python tried to negotiate with them. He too did not want any trouble. "I'll count to three. One...Two...Three."

Simultaneously, the four men all lowered their weapons down and simply stood there staring at each other.

The man with the Colt Python placed his weapon into his holster and placed his hands to his hips. He decided to introduce himself and his allies. "My name's Rick, Rick Grimes. This is my son Carl."

"I'm Daryl." the man with the crossbow introduced.

"My name's Clementine." Clementine introduced herself as she stepped forward from behind cover of her friends. She turned towards the duo and waited for them to introduce themselves too.

"I'm Kenny." Kenny introduced himself.

"I'm Enrico." Enrico was the last to introduce himself before he decided to ask the most obvious question. "What are you doing out here?"

"Supply run." Rick answered as he repeated the same question to the three strangers standing before him. "What about you three?"

"Hunting." Kenny simply answered, but by the look of his expression, he did not look like he trusted this people one bit, despite them having a child.

"Doubt you'll find anything out here." Daryl pointed out whilst placing his crossbow back onto his back.

Rick spoken up before Kenny could reply to that statement. "We're from a prison a long way from here, and we're accepting survivors if anyone wants to join."

"Thanks but no thanks." Kenny declined. He would rather sleep in a cardboard box rather than go with these strangers. He looked up towards the sky and noticed the clouds coming quite close together. "Well, we'd love to stick around and chat, but we better start heading back it starts snowing."

Rick nodded in agreement and slowly turned around and proceeded to continue down the path, Daryl and Carl following closely. Kenny and Enrico did the same, but before Clementine followed, she looked back towards Carl, who in return, stopped and looked back towards her.

"Cool hat." Carl complemented before he turned around and followed his father and their friend back down towards the way they were heading.

"Thanks." Clementine thanked despite the fact he was already out of hearing range by now. She turned around and picked up the pace a little to keep up with Kenny and Enrico when she heard them calling for her.

"Well, that went a lot better than expected." Enrico stated, placing his AK-47 over his shoulder again. He wished all strangers could be friendly towards one another.

"You can say that again." Kenny agreed, looking over his shoulder for a moment to check if they were being followed, and fortunately, they weren't.

With their hunting day being a total waste of time, the three of them decided to head back to the ski lodge. Along the way, they remained silent since they did not have much to say towards one another. However, as they made it through the woods, the trio stopped when they noticed a couple of figures emerging from the behind the trees and bushes.

At first, they mistaken them for people, but when they were closer in view, the three of them gasped when noticing they were no other than the walkers. There were groups of them coming around from all sides.

"Shit!" Kenny cursed, firing a couple of rounds towards the closest walkers, but he knew if they stuck around, they would eventually be overwhelmed and trapped. "Quick, let's go!"

Clementine stuck close to Kenny as they ran through the woods. Enrico brought up his AK-47 and began to shoot down the many walkers gathered around them, but he did not have enough ammunition to take them all down.

As Clementine ran, she gasped when a single walker emerged out of nowhere and would have collapsed onto her. It all happened so fast that she did not even have the time to take out her pistol and shoot them. Before the walker had the chance to get her, a large object whacked against its skull and sent it down towards the ground.

Clementine looked up to her savior. "Enrico!"

"Go!" Enrico ordered as he picked a walker away. He quickly reloaded another clip into his gun and began to shoot an opening through the walkers, allowing Clementine and Kenny to make an escape whilst he covered them.

Kenny saw this opportunity and grabbed Clementine's hand, quickly pulling her through the walkers until they were in the clear. He would not let Clementine go no matter what and would put his life before her own. He stopped after they were in the clear and let go of Clementine's hand.

Clementine panted for a couple of seconds until she realized someone was missing. She quickly turned around to see Enrico bravely fighting off the walkers. "Enrico!"

"Both of you go!" Enrico ordered in a loud tone due to the gunfire draining out his voice. He fired more rounds into their skulls until he heard his gun click and realize he was out of ammunition. "Dammit!" he yelled as he dropped his gun and pulled out his machete, taking them down as they got close.

"Enrico, no!" Clementine shouted, wanting to run in there and save his life, but that would be stupid and only get herself killed.

"Clem, we got to go!" Kenny reminded her, but he too did not want to leave Enrico to die after all he done for Clementine. "I don't want to leave him either, but he stayed there so we could escape. If we stay, then that'll mean he sacrificed himself for nothing."

Enrico continued to hold them back for as long as he could, but he could not hold them off forever.

As much as Clementine did not want to admit it, she knew Kenny was right. Taking one more look at Enrico before he was completely blocked off from her view by the walkers, she followed Kenny through the woods to quickly escape the walkers before more of them arrived and apprehended them. If this was the last time she saw Enrico, she would never forget his bravery and everything that he did for her.

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><p><strong>That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. Clementine, Kenny and Enrico have met up with some new people and have been attacked by walkers. In case any of you were wondering or didn't know, Rick, Carl and Daryl are from the comic seriesTV series of The Walking Dead, except for Daryl who was made just for the TV series. Rick and Carl have their appearance from the comics in this story whilst Darly just has his appearance in the TV series. And to top it off, in case you wanted to know what they sounded like, Rick, Carl and Darly would all have their voices from the show.**

**Aside from that, what will become of Enrico? Has he been killed trying to defend his friends or have the walkers killed him? Stay tuned for chapter 9.**


	9. Chapter 9: back at the ski lodge

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 9: back at the ski lodge  
><strong>

****"She left me...my son...people that cared about us...I forgive her, but it don't make it any less wrong. You don't just end it cause it's hard. You stick it out, and you help the folks you care about. So let's figure a way outta here and get that little girl." -Kenny.****

****Greetings to all of you Walking Dead readers. Everyone doing good? I hope so. It's Tuesday, the third day of the week and here we have chapter 9. Now that I have finished A place to call home that I co-wrote with A Writer With Mixed Interests, I will now be putting all my concentration onto this one story. Enjoy the chapter, folks.****

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><p>Clementine and Kenny ran through the woods as fast as their legs would carry them, not daring to look back. Everything had happened so fast, one minute they were talking to a group of strangers and then the next they were met with their worst fear: the walkers. They attacked them and possible killed Enrico. Neither of them was certain what happened to him.<p>

For all they knew he could either be alive, dead, a walker, or worse. There was nothing they could do to help him. At first, Clementine insisted that they go back to save him, but Kenny told her there was nothing they could do and assured her that if Enrico was alive, he would find his way back. But apart of himself wanted to go back and save him, too, but for the sake of Clementine, he did what Enrico would have wanted.

As they were running through the woods, the snow had made it difficult to see the ground and Clementine ended up putting her right foot through a small hole that caused her to trip over, causing a great pain in her ankle in the process.

"Ow!" Clementine cried out and grunted as she held onto her injured foot.

The second he realized she was not beside him, Kenny looked back and performed a U-turn, heading straight back towards Clementine. "Clem!" he yelled as he leaned down and picked her up in his arms. "It's okay, I got you."

"My ankle." Clementine winched as Kenny began to continue running through the woods, carrying her in bridle style. "I think I twisted it."

"We'll put some ice on it when we get back." Kenny reassured as he turned back for a moment to make sure there were no walkers following them. He could not see any so far, but he was not taking any chances and continued to run as fast as his legs would carry him. At his age, it was not getting any easier to run as fast as he use to, and this cold weather was not making that any easier, but he had to keep moving, to protect Clementine. He already lost his own son, and if he lost Clementine...He would not know what to do.

It took around ten more minutes until Kenny finally made it out of the woods where the ski lodge was in sight. Still carrying Clementine, Kenny ran towards the ski lodge entrance and practically burst inside. He froze in the center of the room and panted heavily to catch his breath as Sarita, Walter and Matthew approached them.

"Kenny, Clementine!" Sarita gasped. She feared the worse when she noticed Kenny carrying Clementine. "Are you both...Okay?"

"Are you all right, Clementine?" Walter inquired when he noticed she was being in the strong arms of Kenny. He looked concerned for their well-being.

"She's...She's...All right; she just...Twisted her...Ankle..." Kenny answered in between breaths. He proceeded over towards the living room, the others following closely. He carefully set Clementine down on the couch.

Matthew was the first to notice that Enrico was not among them. "Hey, where's Enrico?"

Kenny did not respond and took a seat on the armchair, looking down towards the ground as he took off his hat and rubbed his hand through his hair. Everyone immediately got the impression that Enrico was no longer among them. "He's gone...Enrico, he...He stayed behind and distracted walkers...He...He saved our lives..."

"He's dead?" Sarita asked.

"...I don't know." Kenny responded, resting his face into his hands for a moment. "We...We wanted to help him, but there was just too many walkers to take down and he wanted us to escape. He was willing to die to protect us...A complete stranger and a young girl he's only known for a few days."

"Should we go looking for him?" Walter suggested, but he had to admit that going out there with walkers not too far away was not the best of ideas. "Well, does he know the way back?"

"I think so." Kenny replied as he set his hat back onto his head. "We go out looking for him, we might end up in a similar situation." he noticed their expressions did not agree with him. He hated to admit it, but he did not like it when people disagreed with him. He kept calm, nevertheless. "Look, I want to, but we shouldn't even know where to start looking."

As much as they did not wish to admit it, Kenny was right. Enrico could be anywhere by now, alive, dead or a walker. All they could do was wait and hope that he would turn up safe and sound. Until then, everyone decided to go and get settled in for the day.

Clementine remained where she was seated, Kenny went to put his gun away, Sarita went into the cafeteria with Walter, and Matthew left the ski lodge to go and keep watch on the bridge like he did daily.

Sarita returned to the living room with an ice bandage in her hand. She knelt down in front of Clementine and offered to help her with her injury. "Here Clementine, this will help with your ankle."

Clementine nodded as she took off her shoe and allowed Sarita to carefully wrap the bandage around her ankle. She winced slightly in pain, but it was nothing compared to what she felt the other night when she was forced to bandage her arm up. "Is it bad?"

"It looks fine to me." Sarita assured as she continued wrapping bandages around her ankle. "It's not too serious and should heal nicely soon. Just try and stay off your feet until then, okay?"

"Okay." Clementine agreed just as Sarita finished attending to her ankle. She looked up towards the older man gratefully. "Thank you, Sarita."

"No problem." Sarita assured with a smile. She stood up and proceeded towards another area of the ski lodge.

Clementine decided to take Sarita's advice and took it easy, sitting back on the couch as the fire a few feet away kept her warm. She hoped Enrico was still out there somewhere, alive and well and would return to her any moment now. Until then, all she could do was wait and hope.

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><p>Deep through the woods of Carolina, the former cabin group made their way through the woods in search of safety and to get away from Carver's people as fast as possible. They may have killed their leader, but that did not mean Carver's people would not pursue them. They had to keep moving no matter what, it was their only choice now.<p>

Carlos led the way with Sarah following closely, Luke and Nick were behind him with Nick supporting Luke due to his injured leg, Alvin and Rebecca walked behind them, and Pete was at the back of the group, keeping watch for anyone behind them.

As they were walking, Luke took a wrong step and put too much pressure on his injured leg and collapsed down. "Ahh, shit!"

His sudden yells caused the rest of the group to stop in their tracks and shift the rest of their attention towards him.

"Come on, Luke, up you get." Nick encouraged as he took his arm and placed it around his neck. "You all right, man?"

"Yeah...I'm good...Sorry, I just took a wrong step is all." Luke explained as he got back onto feet and used his AK-47 as a crutch to keep himself balanced.

"We should stop for the day soon, anyway." Carlos suggested as he looked up to the sky and noticed the sun was beginning to set. It was not safe to keep moving in the night.

Everyone agreed to the doctor's plan and resumed their journey through the woods. They did not exactly have a destination on where they were going, but there was no going back now. And what made matters worse was Rebecca's pregnancy condition. She was getting very close to giving birth to her baby and at any moment now, she could go into labor. They had to find somewhere safe as soon as possible.

Before long, the group came across an old shed in the middle of the forest near the path they were heading through. It looked like a good place to spend the night, but there were a couple of walkers lurking around the area.

"Let's clear them out." Pete stated as he borrowed Luke's machete to dispatch of the walkers. They were only three of them and they were all separated from each other.

As Pete decapitated the walker's heads from their shoulders, Carlos placed his hand upon his daughter's shoulder and spoke to her to distract her from what was happening. Despite being out in the open now where almost nowhere was safe, he had to do his best to shelter her from what it was truly like out here.

"How is your book, sweetie?" Carlos inquired as he began to make conversation between them both.

"Oh, it's going good; I'm on chapter 8, Dad." Sarah replied with her usual small smile. She seemed to be unaware of what was happening nearby. "Maybe I could read some more soon."

"Of course you can." Carlos replied as he looked up nearby to see Pete had dispatched of the walkers and returned with the rest of their group.

"We're clear." Pete declared whilst handing Luke his machete back. "Come on, let's go and check the place out."

The group proceeded towards the shed and Pete was the one to open it, carefully checking inside for any walkers. Fortunately, the shed was all clear and looked more than big enough to fit all of them inside. They went inside and closed the door behind them, using a crate inside to block off the door.

Nick went over to the end of the shed after he helped Luke sit down and opened up another box that revealed small jars inside. He picked one of them up and opened up the jar, smelling the inside. "Whiskey."

"You're not going to drink that, are you?" Pete inquired as he set down his rifle and took a seat against the wall.

"No, I'm NOT going to drink it, Uncle Pete." Nick assured as he set the whiskey back where he found inside. He always assumed that his uncle only expected the worse in him which annoyed him a lot.

"Everyone just try to get some sleep for the night." Carlos suggested as he took a seat next to his daughter right at the end of the shed. "We'll leave first thing in the morning, that way we can make some progress."

No-one had any objections to his suggestion and tried their best to get comfortable. The place looked pretty strong and walkers did not know they were in here yet. Pete decided to keep watch for a while whilst everyone else rested up for their continued journey in the morning. He would eventually switch with someone else.

Although no-one wanted to admit it, the former cabin group did not have any idea where they were going to go now. Their only plan was to head north, but after that, they had no idea. Hopefully they could find somewhere safe to hold up inside where they would be safe and out of harm's way. For now, it was time to get some rest and see what the future holds for them.

* * *

><p><em>"Did you kill it?" Clementine inquired to this new face as she took a couple of steps away from her now dead babysitter to avoid stepping on blood.<em>

_"I think something else did." Lee answered, panting a couple of times to get over the near death experience. "Before me, I think."_

_"I heard her scream two nights ago. Maybe one of the monsters got her. " Clementine suggested, but she did take note of what he just said. It may be important to remember afterwards._

_"Two nights ago? Yeah, that's probably what happened." Lee assumed before he knelt down to Clementine's height level, but due to his injured leg, it made it a little painful. "You've been all by yourself through this?"_

_"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now." Clementine wished._

_For a moment, Lee's expression looked somewhat sad and doubtful, but he quickly shrugged it off before she noticed. "I think that might be a little while, you know?"_

_"Oh." Clementine lowered her head slightly and felt a little sad if what this man said was true. She wanted her parents to be with her right now and have them protect her from those monsters out there._

_Lee moved a little closer towards Clementine and made a decision that would possible change his life forever: he was going to take care of this little girl until they found a safe place. He knew that she wanted her parents, but that was not going to happen now after what he heard on that answering machine. "Look, I don't know what happened. But I'll look after you until then."_

_Clementine looked unsure for a couple of seconds, but she decided that was going to be her best option. She didn't want to be alone in her tree house any longer on her own. "What should we do now?"_

_"We need to find help before it gets dark." Lee suggested._

_"Yeah, it's not safe at night." Clementine agreed as she turned around to face the outside of her garden._

_Lee stood back up and limped a couple of steps over to the exit to the home. He held Clementine's hand as they prepared to head into the outside world where those walkers would more than likely be wondering around the streets. "Let's go. Stay close to me."_

* * *

><p>Clementine leaned up and gasped slightly, for a moment, expecting herself to be in her house with Lee protecting her, but then she realized it was all a dream. She had fallen asleep on the couch on the ski lodge shortly after making their way back after the walkers ambushed them. She leaned up and took note of her ankle feeling a lot better than before. She was able to move it without hardly any pain at all.<p>

As Clementine got up and sat back for a while, she noticed Kenny walking into the living room and taking a seat on the same couch as her. She smiled slightly whilst placing her foot back into her sock and then back into her shoe.

"How you doing, Clementine?" Kenny inquired in a polite tone. He certainly changed since the last time she saw him which was a very long time ago.

"I'm doing okay...I guess." Clementine answered with a slight shrug. She was in too deep in thought for two different reasons: her dream a moment ago and her worry for Enrico.

Kenny could see past those eyes like it was nothing and figured out something was wrong with her. He didn't want to intrude, but he assumed she would feel better opening up to him instead of keeping it to herself. "Is everything all right, Clem? You know you can talk to me, right? About anything."

Clementine debated on keeping her thoughts to herself or sharing it with the older man, but she trusted Kenny as a close friend and somewhat a father-figure to her. She decided to tell him as long as he kept it to himself. "I had a dream...About Lee..."

This caused Kenny to sigh sadly and look away for a moment. When he escaped that alleyway after Ben was killed, he shredded a couple of tears that day because of Lee's fate. He knew there was nothing they could do to save him and he felt somewhat responsible because he wished he done more for him. Lee was his best friend, the man who always looked out for everyone and cared for his friends like they were his own family.

"What...What was it about exactly, Clem?" Kenny inquired, but he hoped he was not being too pushy. He hated to bring it up, but after all, it was his idea to ask.

"I dreamt about the day I first met Lee, at my house." Clementine answered, refusing to let anymore tears rain down her cheeks. She just had no more energy to cry anymore. "That was just a day before we met you at Hershel's farm...I sometimes wish all this was just a bad nightmare."

Kenny agreed to this and took off his hat for a moment, running his hand through his longish black and grey hair. He too wished he would wake up one morning to his wife lying beside him and a happy Duck jumping up and down on their bed. He missed them every day that went past. "Me, too, darling...You know when I saw you walk through those doors and saw you standing before me, I thought I was dreaming. I even told Sarita to pitch me that did." he chuckled. "And she did."

"I'm glad I found you again, Kenny." Clementine shared the mutual feeling. She too felt a little surprised when they were reunited the previous day and wondered if she was hallucinating.

"And I'm glad I have you with us again, Clem." Kenny agreed with a smile under that beard of his. "You know, when we sat down and talked last night, I began to think about Duck..." he closed his eyes and tried to hold back tears. "I remembered all the stuff he use to do. Always running around everywhere he went, never knowing when to stop, and always getting himself into mischief. It makes it hard to remember what a good boy he was."

Clementine held her head down for a moment. She too missed Duck dearly as he was her best friend and she looked up to him like an older brother. It was a tragic day when Duck had to be put down to avoid reanimating into a walker, and matters got worse when Katjaa committed suicide. It was hard to imagine how so many things could change just like that.

"I miss him, too, Kenny." Clementine spoke up. "I...I'm sorry, Kenny."

"It weren't your fault, Clem." Kenny assured as he placed his hand upon her shoulder. "I'm just grateful I didn't have to be the one to pull that trigger. I...I couldn't do it...Lee, he...I'll never forgot everything he done for us."

Kenny no longer wanted to speak about their past as it would be too much for him to handle right now. He patted Clementine on the back a couple of times. "It's going to be okay, Clem. We'll find Enrico, and together, we're all leaving."

"Leaving?" Clementine repeated as she turned her head to the side in confusion. The ski lodge was a great place to survive in, it had everything they needed. Food, water, weapons, and even electricity. Why on Earth would he want to leave? "Where are we going?"

"We're going to Wellington, Clementine." Kenny answered.

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><p><strong>And that just about ends this chapter, folks. I know not much action happened in this chapter, and I know everyone loves action in sci fi related stories. Clementine and Kenny are back at the ski loge, the cabin group are moving north, and Enrico's fate is unknown. Stay tuned for chapter 10.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10: haunted memories

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 10: haunted memories  
><strong>

**Here's the next chapter, folks, and nothing much to say in this author's note, no quotes or questions, just the chapter. Enjoy reading.**

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><p>"Wellington?" Clementine repeated, the name mentioned certainly brought back memories. "You mean Wellington as in the safe place near Michigan?"<p>

"That's the one." Kenny confirmed with a nod and a small smile. "You heard of it?"

"Christa and I were heading there before we got separated." Clementine answered. She had to pause for a moment when she remembered her close friend whose fate was left uncertain at this point. She hoped Christa was okay. "Isn't it supposed to be really cold up there?"

"Yep, and that's a good thing." Kenny replied, leaving Clementine with a curious eyebrow rose. How was cold a good thing nowadays. "Think about it, Clem: the cold weather means the walkers will get slow, giving us the perfect advantage. And if Wellington's as safe as I heard it is, we're going to be okay. A fresh meal every day, a huge fortress to protect us, and no longer having to sleep with a gun beside you. Wouldn't that be great?"

It took Clementine a moment or two to answer when she had to think this over. She was unaware Wellington had all this to offer, she just assumed that it was a simple camp with lots of people. It all sounded too good to be true, but where else could they go now? This ski lodge was pretty sturdy too and could possible hold out against a walker attack. "Yeah, it would be great. But do you think we can make it?"

"Of course we can, Clem." Kenny assured. Clearly he had not lost all hope for humanity yet. "We'll make it. Me, you, Sarita, Walter and Matthew. Soon we're going to head up there and finally we can be safe from all this. Everything's going to be just fine."

Clementine wished she could believe that, but she heard the word "safe" so many times and it never once came true. She remembered during the first days of all this when they first arrived at the motor inn with Kenny and Lilly. They assumed the motor inn was going to protect them until all of this got sorted out by the government, but once the apocalypse started, there was no going back.

"I trust you, Kenny." Clementine replied. "We can make it, we just need to be strong."

"I agree." Kenny smiled and patted her on the back a couple of times. Now that was settled, he decided to move onto a subject. "So, you okay to walk?"

"I think so." Clementine replied, turning towards her ankle and moving it around a couple of times. It was still hurting a little, but she was all right to move.

"Want to come and hold me board up some windows?" Kenny offered, gesturing his thumb over towards the huge windows along side the walls. Some of them were boarded up, but not all of them.

"Sure." Clementine nodded as she got up onto her feet and followed Kenny towards the ski lodge exit, limping slightly whilst doing so. She had nothing better to do and did not want to give the impression that she was useless and could not do anything for herself.

When they were outside, Kenny was the one to be nailing the planks of wood down against the window, all Clementine needed to do was hold the wood still for him. Still, at least it was something to do for a while.

As Kenny finished up with one section of the window and moved onto the next one, he decided to make conversation with Clementine again. It was better than working in silence. "Hey Clementine...Remember when we first met, at the farm?"

"Yep." Clementine confirmed, freezing for a moment when the memories of Shawn Greene being devoured by walkers as she watched helplessly. "That's when you told me I had spiders in my hair."

Kenny chuckled slightly in response whilst he hammered nails into the wood. "Yeah, I did. That's when..." his expression dropped and he slowly lowered his hammer. "That's when Shawn died."

Clementine noticed his sudden change of expression as she continued to hold the wood still nevertheless. She closed her eyes and decided not to fight her memories, but allow them to flow through her mind.

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><p><em>Clementine stood helpless and could only watch as Shawn cried out in pain, his leg crushed and trapped under the tractor that Duck accidentally started and moved. Two of those monsters referred to as walkers were on the other side of the wooden fence and were trying to get in and get the fresh human meal in front of them.<em>

_Two walkers were trying to grab Shawn and a third walker grabbed Duck by his shoulders and tried to yank him off the tractor. Lee appeared out of nowhere and zoomed past Clementine, but he froze a couple of feet away from the two. He darted back towards Shawn and Duck. _

_Someone was going to die, the question of which one was going to be on Lee's hands. He was going to save one son and another was going to die. _

_"My leg is stuck!" Shawn cried out as he punched the ground for no reason. "Get it off of me!"_

_Lee did not think and acted on mere instinct. He charged directly towards Shawn and grabbed both of his hands, pulling with all of his might in an desperate attempt to save him, but he was not strong enough to pull him out and had to let go._

_"Fuck, it's crushed!" Shawn cried out as he looked back at his injured leg. "Move this thing!"_

_Whilst Lee tried to figure out what to do next, Clementine looked to her left and noticed Kenny came rushing towards the tractor. He jumped up and grabbed his son, freeing him from the walker. "I got you!" he assured as he picked up Duck in a protective manner. _

_"KENNY! HELP LEE!" Shawn shouted whilst Lee tried to forcefully pushed the tractor back, but much to his horror and shock, Kenny turned around and ran away. "KENNY!"_

_Lee continued to try and push the tractor back, but his feet only slipped against the ground, regardless of how much he pushed. He jumped back when he heard the sound of the wood beginning to give out and he acted on instinct yet again and jumped out of harm's way._

_The walkers finally put enough force on the fence and caused it to break, allowing them inside. Lee could only watch as one walker bit into Shawn's leg whilst the other one bit into his neck. "AHHHH! AHHH! AHH!" Shawn cried out in agonizing pain. _

_Clementine gasped and took a couple of steps away in fear and sadness. At that same moment, Hershel came running towards the scene, armed with his Remington 870 shotgun. His eyes widened when he witnessed his son being devoured. He quickly shot the two walkers attacking Shawn and then proceeded to shoot a third advancing one. _

_Clementine watched as Hershel knelt down to his son and talked quietly to him that she could not hear what they said, but she could definitely tell he was crying for a few seconds. She lowered her head and silently mourned him. The others gathered around and remained silent as Hershel comforted his new dead son._

_Eventually, Hershel stood up and closed his eyes for a moment. "Get out." he turned towards them and screamed at the top of his lungs. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE."_

_"I'm sorry." Kenny apologized, but that was not going to make any difference now._

_"SORRY? Your son is alive." Hershel stated as he pointed a finger towards him. "You don't get to be sorry." he turned slightly to face Lee. "You tried to help him, but this piece of shit let him die."_

_"You can't blame Kenny." Lee assured to which caused Kenny's expression to change like he appreciated it. _

_"The hell I can't." Hershel clashed. "You watch your back. Wait until it's your daughter and you need his help." he turned around and could no longer look at them. "Please, just go. Get out and never come back."_

_There was a moment of silence until Kenny spoke up. "You've got that ride to Macon if you want it." he offered._

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><p>Since that day, Kenny had felt a wave of guilt over him because of his selfish actions. He took off his hat for a moment and sighed. "I should have helped him that day, Clem...It's been haunting me ever since. I...I could have helped him, I could have just put Duck down and helped Lee..."<p>

Clementine did not really know what to say at this point. She knew that Kenny thought it was fate that killed Duck because of how he did not help save Shawn. Although his actions was wrong in the eyes of everyone, she still believed in him and trusted Kenny. "It's okay, Kenny. You were just worried about Duck, you saved him like any father would...There was nothing any of us could do.

Kenny seemed to appreciate what she said and smiled slightly. He placed his hat back onto his head. "Thanks Clementine, I, uh, needed that. Now come on, let's finish boarding up these windows.

Clementine nodded and continued to assist Kenny with his work anyway she could. She hoped her words would be enough to help comfort him, and hopefully, if Shawn was watching over the two, he forgave Kenny.

She would never know if that was true, but Clementine strongly believed she was right.

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><p><strong>That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. I know nothing much happened, other than Kenny feeling guilty for what he did those many years ago. Stay tuned for chapter 11.<strong>


	11. Chapter 11: familiar faces

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 11: familiar faces  
><strong>

**_"You ruined that dude's face."_-Omid.**

**Greetings Walking Dead readers, and I imagine you all enjoyed that quote above. Seriously, that was probably Omid's best line in the entire serious. Anyway, here's the next chapter folks, and at the end, there will be a voting option for what happens in the next chapter, so be sure to vote. I'll mention it again at the end in case any of you forget. In the meantime, enjoy chapter 11. **

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><p>Over the next few days or so, Clementine had fairly been enjoying her stay at the ski lodge and was glad to finally be in a place that made her feel like things were normal again, but at the same time, there was still no sign of Enrico, he hadn't turned up anywhere. Kenny and Sarita set off to look for him a couple of times, but no luck which saddened Clementine greatly.<p>

She still had Enrico's Glock 22 and his backpack with all of his supplies inside was still here as well. At one point, Clementine could not help but look inside his backpack to see what was inside. Although she just assumed it was supplies, she found a photo frame of Enrico with his family. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment; it reminded her of the photo of Lee and his family back in Macon.

The following morning, Clementine ate her breakfast with Kenny and Sarita in peace. Albeit that it was a little boring eating the same thing every day, she was still grateful to be eating some decent food for a change. As for the others, Walter was busy bringing in some supplies from outside whilst Matthew had gone to keep guard on the bridge as perusal.

At the moment, Kenny was telling a joke to Clementine and Sarita to help brighten their day. "So one day, a man goes to a pet shop to buy a parrot, the assistant takes the man to the parrot section and asked the man to choose one. The man asks how much is the yellow one, the assistants says its two-thousand dollars. The guy's shocked and asks the assistant why it's so expensive, the assistant explains that it's very special and that it knows typewriting and can type really fast. The man asks what about the green parrot, the assistant says he's five-thousand dollars because he knows type writing and can answer incoming telephone calls and takes notes. The man asked what about the red parrot, the assistant says he's ten-thousand dollars, the man asks what does he do, and the assistant says he doesn't know, but the other two parrots call him boss."

Clementine and Sarita laughed for a few seconds, even despite the fact that Clementine didn't quite understand it at first, but it was good to share a laugh with the people she cared about.

"Good one, Kenny." Sarita said in between laughs.

I took a couple of minutes until everyone calmed down from Kenny's joke and resumed eating this breakfast. Walter would occasionally walk inside and set some supplies down before heading back outside to get some more. Sarita or Kenny would offer him a hand, but he assured them he was all right working on his own and allowed them to eat their breakfast.

After they were finished with breakfast, the group departed in different directions to their own activates. Clementine and Sarita decided to decorate a Christmas tree together to help brighten up the place whilst Kenny went to help Walter with the supplies.

It felt nice for Clementine to finally feel like life was normal again inside this ski lodge. They had food, water, shelter, and most importantly, she was reunited with Kenny. Life didn't get any better than this. Still, she would occasionally check the ski lodge exit expecting Enrico to walk inside any moment now, safe and sound and unscathed. She missed him deeply.

"I bet it must be nice to feel like a kid again, right?" Sarita broke Clementine out of her thoughts whilst she was busy tying a Christmas bulb to the tree.

"What do you mean?" Clementine inquired, picking up a random Christmas decoration from the box below her.

"You know, being with someone who you're close with and inside a nice shelter where you don't have to worry about the outside world." Sarita explained with her usual smile. Sometimes she would remind Clementine too much of Katjaa. "It must be nice to not have to sleep with a gun next to you. I can't imagine growing up in a world like this."

"Everyone underestimates me." Clementine replied with a grin, but her words were true. People assumed just because she was a little girl, she would not be a dangerous target, but little did they know she was no ordinary little girl.

"That's a good thing." Sarita agreed. "I bet you use that to your advantage when it comes to a bad situation."

"Sometimes." Clementine admitted with a look of guilt across her face. Because of this, it brought back another one of her memories.

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><p><em>Clementine slowly opened the door to avoid making noise after she had been locked in there by the stranger, the man who claimed he found her parents, but it was all a lie. The rope that was tied to the closet opposite the door dropped when it opened and Clementine slowly sneaked out.<em>

_She leaned out of the door frame and was relieved to see her guardian with...Only one arm? Why he had only one arm she did not know, but she had to help him before things got bad. The stranger had his back faced to her whilst he was speaking to a bag on the floor for some unknown reason. Lee was sitting opposite of him, looking at Clementine with a concerned expression._

_"I wish you wouldn't have had to get this bad, but it's all over, hon." the stranger assured as he looked up towards Lee just for a couple of seconds. "Isn't it?"_

_"Just about." Lee replied, but only to keep the stranger from looking behind him._

_Whilst he was talking and not paying attention, Lee nodded his head towards the table nearby where he was forced to place all of his items on the table when he arrived. Clementine saw this and approached the table, picking up a meat clever and slowly tip-toeing towards the stranger._

_"I hate seeing you like this. I just miss your smile, honey." the stranger continued to talk to the bag below him. Was this guy crazy or something? "I miss you so much, Tess. You're going to like Clementine a lot, though. She's not Lizzy, but she's sweet. She wouldn't hurt a fly."_

_As if it were ironic to what he was saying, Clementine stabbed the meat clever into the top part of his arm, causing him to yell and knock his concentration away from Lee. He sure never expected that to happen._

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><p>Clementine dazed out of her thoughts yet again as she continued decorating the Christmas tree with Sarita. She decided to make conversation with Sarita. "So, how long have you known Kenny?"<p>

"Oh, quite a bit of time now." Sarita answered as she leaned up and admired their work together. "I found him hold up in a restaurant and together, we both headed north where he thought it would be safe. You should have seen that beard then." she chuckled for a few seconds. "We met Walter and Matthew along the way and we've been staying here with them for a few months now. They're both such nice people; honestly it's dangerous to be that nice."

"I wish all people were still like that." Clementine wished with a somewhat saddened expression. It was because of the strangers in this world that she lost everyone she cared for. The St. Johns, the Saint-Lot bandits, the stranger, the girl in the restroom, and those three bandits.

"Kenny told me the people who found you when you were bit had left you in a shed to die, right?" Sarita inquired, only to earn a mere nod from the young girl. She sighed and began to wrap some garland around the tree. "I too wish there were more people like Walter, Matthew and Enrico. I hope he's okay."

"Me, too." Clementine agreed, but she had to admit that her hopes to see Enrico again were beginning to fade. He had been missing for almost a week now, even if he escaped the walkers, how was going to survive without food and shelter? But then again, he had been surviving on his own for quite some time now and there was a chance he was okay.

But for now, there was nothing she could do but wait and hope. For now, she took her mind of the subject by speaking with Sarita. "So, are you going to Wellington, too?"

"Of course." Sarita nodded. "Kenny has been telling me about how safe it is and that we should head there soon. I believe him and hope we can finally find somewhere safe from all this. Not that I don't think this ski lodge isn't safe, but I prefer to be in a place where we can socialize with other people. "

"Let's just hope Wellington's a good place-" Clementine was cut off from her sentence when Kenny and Walter came rushing it, quickly searching the area for their weapons.

Clementine and Sarita stopped what they were doing and immediately rushed over towards Kenny who was retrieving their weapons from the storage room. "What's going on?" Clementine asked.

"Walkers." Kenny answered, but that was no surprise since they were the reason for a lot of things nowadays. He grabbed his Winchester Model 70 and began to load some rounds inside. "At least twenty of them lurking around the area, and they're heading this way. Come on."

Kenny went rushing out of the ski lodge with Walter and Sarita who each grabbed a Glock 17 and followed him outside of the ski lodge. Clementine ran towards her backpack and searched inside until she retrieved Enrico's Glock 22 and rushed outside with the others to help out.

The four of them gathered outside the ski lodge and watched as the many walkers were limping towards them, snarling and growling at the fresh victims in front of them. Kenny was not joking around when he mentioned there were quite a few of them, but the ski lodge group were not going to back down from now.

"Come on, ya'll, let's take them down." Kenny ordered as he pulled back on his rifle once and aimed down his heights. With one good shot, he fired and hit the first walker directly through its skull and down it went, landing face first on the snow.

The others raised their weapons and fired, taking down as many walkers as they could, but at the same time, they did not want to waste much ammunition despite them being heavily outnumbered. One by one, every walker went down the second a bullet pierced through their brain and finally put them out of their misery.

Whilst they were shooting them down, a single walker emerged from around the corner of the ski lodge and slowly limped towards Kenny who was completely unaware of the danger ahead despite the walker's loud noises. Their gunfire was drowning out its sounds.

Kenny looked through the corner of his eye and finally noticed the danger ahead. He quickly attempted to shoot it down, but by the time he turned around, the walker had grabbed onto his rifle and now they were both fighting over the gun. "Shit!" he yelled, kicking the walker back a few times in an attempt to knock him away.

"Kenny!" Clementine was the only one to notice he was being attacked and quickly aimed her pistol towards the walker, but her gun only clicked. Without thinking, she ran towards Kenny and pushed the walker a few times, causing it to let go of Kenny's rifle and now it had his attention focused on Clementine.

Before it could attack, Kenny whacked the butt of his rifle against the walker's skull and sent it collapsing to the ground. He lifted his foot and stomped on the walkers head a couple of times and crushed its skull. By the time Kenny had finished it off with his own strength; the others had halted firing and walked over to join them.

"Jesus, we didn't even see it." Walter gasped when he noticed the now dead walker.

"Are you all right, Kenny?" Sarita inquired with a hint of strong worry in her tone.

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm good." Kenny assured as he took a couple of breaths. He looked up gratefully towards Clementine and smiled. "Clementine saved my life, if it weren't for her, that fucker might have got me. Thank you, Clem."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Clementine replied as the two shared a quick hug.

At that moment, the group shifted their attention around when they heard footsteps running through the snow with the sounds getting louder and louder which meant they were getting closer. Matthew came running towards the group.

Matthew panted a few times to catch his breath until he could get his words out in proper punctuality. "Is everyone okay?" he inquired, taking the chance to look around the area where all of the dead walkers were scattered across the snow. "I heard the gunshots and...Jesus, that's a lot of them."

"They must have been part of the herd we saw the other day." Kenny assumed as he picked up his rifle. "Well, we better burn those bodies before the smell attracts more of them."

"I'll get the gas." Walter agreed, almost immediately he began walking back into the ski lodge.

"I'll get the matches." Sarita said as she followed Walter into the ski lodge.

"I'm going to get back to the station house." Matthew informed Clementine and Kenny. He finally caught his breath and began walking back down the hill towards the bridge and the station house.

Now that left Clementine and Kenny alone.

"Well, I guess we better drag these bodies together so we can burn 'em." Kenny suggested as he grabbed the closest walker by its wrists and began to drag it towards the center of the area. Clementine helped it by grabbing its legs but she had a little trouble due to her not being that strong. But it had to be done otherwise the smell would simply attract more of them.

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><p>It took almost all morning until everyone was done with burning the walkers. Hopefully the smoke in the air would not attract any more unwanted attention, but it was better than having the risk of attracting more walkers.<p>

After they were done, Clementine and Kenny took the time to relax for a while in the living room whilst Sarita and Walter were putting their weapons away and organizing their ammunition.

"What a morning." Kenny sighed as he took a bite out of a candy bar. He and Clementine were eating a couple of candy bars that Enrico had given Clementine before they were separated.

"Tell me about it." Clementine agreed with a small grin.

"Clem..." Kenny caught her attention after he finished eating a candy bar. "Thanks again, for saving my life. It seems I always get lucky no matter what."

Clementine could not disagree with that. He was right, Kenny always came lucky in situations. He was shot by Andy St. John and survived, a walker grabbed his ankle when they arrived in Savannah, but Lee saved his life, and lastly, he was able to escape from the walkers in the alleyway when he tried to save Ben. How long would his luck last for?

"I'm just glad we're together again." Clementine replied.

Kenny nodded and patted Clementine on the back a couple of times.

At that moment, Walter returned near the exit to the ski lodge after he was checking outside for any more walkers. He held the glass door open and called out to everyone inside. "Clementine, Kenny, Sarita, Matthew's back and he's brought back some guests. At least seven of them."

Clementine, Kenny and Sarita went outside to go and greet this group of strangers. They stood outside the ski lodge door and waited for Matthew to reach them with the group of people following closely behind them.

"Hey, these guys are heading north and I offered them shelter for the night." Matthew explained as he stood near Walter.

"Please to meet you all, I'm Walter." Walter introduced himself with his usual smile.

"Nice to meet ya'll." a familiar voice that Clementine recognized.

Clementine walked past Kenny and Sarita when they were blocking her view and froze in her steps when her eyes met the seven familiar faces. Her eyes widened in shock and almost immediately, she jumped back and stood behind Kenny. The group looks more surprised to see her than she was to see them.

"Clem, what's wrong?" Kenny inquired when he noticed her fearful face.

"Clementine!" Luke gasped.

"That's them!" Clementine answered, pointing her finger towards the former cabin group. "They're the people who locked me in a shed and left me to die!"

At that moment, Kenny's eyes widened but then his expression changed to an angered one. He and Matthew aimed their rifles towards the group in anger. "You motherfuckers! I should shoot you right now!"

The same time Kenny and Matthew aimed their weapons, Nick and Pete did the same with their AK-47 and their Winchester Model 70. Both groups were now at a standoff and unless someone did something, one of them was going to shoot and then blood would be spilt.

"Listen everyone, just stay calm!" Luke soothed, attempting to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Kenny ordered in a loud voice. "You sick motherfuckers!"

"Fuck you, buddy!" Nick shouted, his aim was locked onto Kenny. The two shared so much alike.

"What kind of assholes are you?!" Kenny demanded. He clearly was upset about what they did to Clementine. "Leaving a fucking little girl to die in a shed!"

"We thought she was bit by a lurker." Carlos explained as he stood in front of Sarah in a protective manner. He was not going to let anything happen to her.

"Can't you tell the difference between a walker bite and a dog bite?!" Kenny scolded them, but Clementine could not deny that he had a good point there. Even Enrico seemed to think so. "Now leave before I shoot each and every one of you!"

"Hey! You're little friend here stole from us!" Nick yelled. He did not seem to be afraid of witnessing their weapons. "Took our medical supplies!"

"You locked her in a fucking shed, of course she would!" Kenny clashed; anger was boiling up from the inside of him. "Now this is the last time I'm going to say this: Leave. Right. Now!"

"Just do what he says." Matthew agreed, holding his M14 towards Pete who in return was aiming towards him.

Sarita stood behind her boyfriend as she watched the entire event. She crossed her arms and took a couple of steps towards Kenny, placing her hand upon his shoulder. "Kenny, you're not going to send them out there, are you?"

Kenny could not believe he was hearing right now that caused him to turn towards his girlfriend. "Sarita, these assholes could have killed Clementine and you want me to take them in? Fuck that."

"Kenny, I understand if you're angry, I am too, but one of them is pregnant and they have a child with them." Sarita pointed out the obvious.

Kenny dropped his angered expression slightly but he still continued to aim his weapon towards them. He was not going to slip up and let them have the advantage. After everything that happened to him over the last two-years, he was not going to take any chances.

"Look, let's just put down the weapons and talk about this." Alvin suggested, his hands placed out in front of him.

Kenny, Matthew, Nick and Pete all agreed to this and lowered their weapons down, but Kenny and Nick kept their angered expressions towards each other.

Kenny was about to tell them to leave yet again, but instead, he stepped back and turned towards Clementine. "You know what, fine. I'm going to let Clementine here decide if we should let you in. Go ahead, Clem."

Clementine nodded and step forward, even though she did not really like to be put in a situation like this. Now she knew how Lee felt. Although she was more than angry, she could not deny that not all of them were bad to her. Luke and Pete were the only ones who believed her, Alvin gave her some bandages and a juice box, and Sarah gave her a bottle of peroxide.

Regardless of what happened then, it was Clementine's decision that was going to affect all of them right now. What was she going to do? What would Lee have done if he was here?

Accept the cabin group into the ski lodge or turn them away and force them to leave?

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><p><strong>And now you the people of FanFiction get to decide the cabin groups fate? Will Clementine let them in or turn them away? Leave your votes in the reviews and I'll update once I got enough votes. Hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter, and until next time, stay tuned for chapter 12.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12: decisions, decisions

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 12: decisions, decisions,  
><strong>

**Hey everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here and here's chapter 12 below. I appreciate all of you taking the time to vote for the next chapter and hope you are satisfied with the outcome. I'll put the voting results in at the end, and also, I have edited my voting poll with another option if any of you want to check it out, but in the meantime, enjoy the chapter. **

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><p>Clementine looked back and forth between the former cabin group and then back towards her people. She folded her arms together and glared towards them, wanting nothing more than to just send each and every one of them out there in the cold woods of Carolina. Her mind told her to send them away, but deep down inside, her heart said different.<p>

Despite what they did do her, she had to be the better person here; it's what made her better than them. And it's what Lee would have wanted her to do. Lee...How she missed him so much by each day that went past.

"Come in." Clementine told them, lowering her head with her eyes closed for a moment.

Kenny looked certainly shocked to her answer, but he was not angry and it was his idea to decide if they should let them in or not. Nevertheless, he wanted to make sure that she was certain of her decision. "Are you sure, Clem?"

"I'm sure." Clementine nodded. She stepped aside and allowed them access into their home. But despite her good intention, that did not mean she found it in her heart to forgive them yet.

The former cabin group looked surprised and shocked to what she had just said, but nevertheless, none of them were complaining and needed shelter as soon as possible. Surprisingly, Luke, Nick, Pete, Carlos, Sarah, Alvin and Rebecca all thanked Clementine one by one as they walked past her into the ski lodge.

"Thank you, Clementine."

"Thanks kid."

"Thank you, Clem."

"We really appreciate this, thank you."

"Thanks Clem!"

"We're really grateful for this."

"Uh. Thanks Clementine."

Clementine, Kenny and Sarita watched as they walked inside whilst Walter and Matthew went with them to show them around and get them settled in for the day. Neither of them objected to Clementine's decision, and surprisingly to Clementine, they even supported it. Sarita was right-it was dangerous to be that nice. Not literally of course.

Sarita gave Clementine a smile as she patted her shoulder before heading inside with the others, leaving only her boyfriend and the young girl alone outside. But now Clementine was not looking forward to what she was going to hear next. During her time with Kenny, she knew what he was like and that he had a bit of a temper, especially when it came to someone who hurt him, his family or someone close to him. Still, she was still glad of her decision.

Clementine sighed as she approached the wooden railing and leaned herself against it, looking out into the woods where snow landed upon trees. According to a calendar she found in the ski lodge, it was past Christmas now and they were somewhere in December. Still, it was nice to enjoy it whilst it lasted. "Go ahead, Kenny."

Kenny arched a curious eyebrow as he holstered his rifle and joined Clementine by the railing, leaning against it in a similar fashion. "Do what, Clem?"

"I know you're mad that I let them in." Clementine assumed as she looked away from the bearded man for a moment. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Kenny was about to open his mouth and say something, but stopped when Clementine continued. "Kenny, I won't lie that I am mad at most of them, but there were a couple of them who actually tried to help me. Luke and Pete were the only ones to believe me, Alvin and Sarah gave me some of the supplies I needed. I wanted to send them away at first, but no matter what they did to me, I had to be the better person. I'm sorry..."

Now that she was finished talking, Kenny placed his hand upon her shoulder and waited until she turned towards him. "Clem, darling, I ain't mad at you. It was my choice to let you decide because you're smart, smarter than any three adults put together. You just did what Lee taught you to do, and I'm proud of you for that. Hell, I'm lucky if I could ever be half the person you are, Clem. You did what you thought was right."

Clementine nodded in agreement with a smile, and appreciated Kenny praising her on how tough she was in this day and age. Just because she was a little girl didn't mean she was vulnerable. Simultaneously, both of them leaned off the railing and shared a quick hug with one another. "Thank you, Kenny."

"No problem, Clementine." the older man smiled and patted on her on the back a couple of times before he picked up his rifle and turned around to face the ski lodge. "Come on, Clem; let's get inside where it's warm."

Clementine had no objections to that and followed the older man into the ski lodger to get out of the cold and inside where it was warm. Kenny held the door open, allowing her to walk inside, and the two joined Sarita and a couple of the cabin group members in the living room. Nick was supporting Luke and helped him over to the armchair and helped sit him down.

"Ahh, shit." Luke groaned before he sighed in relaxation and relief when he sat down and was glad to be off his feet. "Oh, that's better."

"What happened to your leg?" Sarita inquired when her eyes darted towards the bandages wrapped around the lower part of his leg.

"I...I got shot." Luke explained, handing his AK-47 over towards Pete when the older man approached him. He noticed their stares and decided to explain what happened a few days back. "Someone we use to know...Crazy bastard who owned this huge community we use to be a part of, but we left and he found us and tried to force us to come back. We all got into a shootout and one of them got me in the leg. Carlos said I should be fine though, just...Just need to be off my feet for a while."

"We won't be here that long, minster." Pete informed Kenny as he went to go and place their weapons near the front of the ski lodge with the other weapons. "We'll be gone first thing in the morning."

Kenny seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded in agreement. "All right then." he sighed and took off his hat for a moment, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. "Just...Make yourselves home, I guess. Sarita'll show you where you can sleep."

Sarita nodded and beckoned for Pete and Nick to follow her upstairs. Kenny went to go and speak with Walter. "Of course, come with me, I'll show you to your rooms."

That left only Clementine and Luke in the living room together. The young girl took a seat on the couch and the two sat in awkward silence, unsure on what to say to one another. But Luke still had a guilty expression across his face despite him and Pete being the only ones who believed her, but he did agree to lock her in the shed after all.

"So...How's the arm?" was the first thing that jumped out of Luke's mouth.

Clementine sighed in response as she rolled up her sleeve and showed Luke her injury that was now wrapped up in bandages. "It's better."

"Oh...That's good." Luke nodded. He placed his hands into his lap and began whistling awkwardly. "Did, uh, you fix it yourself?"

"No..." she answered, rolling her sleeve back down her arm. "After I escaped from the SHED...This man found me and took care of me. He was a doctor, a better one that Carlos anyway. He fixed my arm and protected me until we got here...He's gone now...Kenny's my friend, someone I knew from long ago."

"I'm sorry to hear, Clementine." Luke apologized, but Clementine did not really need his sympathy right now. She was still angry and wanted nothing more than to just let out her rage and scream at the top of her lungs, but for the sake of everyone here, she kept a cool head and remained calm. She wasn't going to lose her temper.

"Don't be." Clementine told him, turning away from the older man. "We can't change what happened in the past, but we can change the future."

Luke did not really know how to respond to that right now and decided to simply nod in agreement. "Uh, right."

At that moment, the former cabin group (with the except of Alvin and Rebecca) walked back downstairs after they were settled in for a while. The joined Clementine and Luke in the living room, but at that moment, Clementine got up and left, proceeding over towards the cafeteria area. It was more than obvious to them all that she was still angry, but who could blame her.

Nick took a seat on the couch and rubbed the back of his neck nervously with a guilty expression across his face. He owed her an apology the most out of all of them, and not because they locked her in the shed, but because he almost shot her when she regained consciousness. He turned towards his uncle and Luke simultaneously. "Guys, I'm going to go and talk to her."

"Nick." Pete warned but not in a harsh tone. "I don't think she wants to talk to us right now."

"I know, but I almost shot her, Uncle Pete." Nick recalled, nervously clapping his hands together. "Look, worst case scenario, she doesn't forgive me. Best case scenario, she does forgive me. I have to try, the guilt's eating me up inside."

Pete sighed and for the first time, he had to agree that Nick was right at this point. He owed her that much at least, and Pete hoped Clementine could forgive his nephew's actions. They had nothing to lose at this point. "All right, all right, go and talk to her, but I'm coming with you."

"Okay." Nick nodded and the two stood up, proceeding towards the cafeteria area. Clementine was sitting there with her arms placed upon the table, tapping her fingers against the surface. She leaned up however when she noticed the two men walking towards her.

Nick was now slightly regretting coming over here, but there was no going back at this point. He sighed and decided to just come out with it whilst he rubbed his hand behind his neck. "Hey, huh, I'm...I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for...For being a dick to you when we first met."

"Nick's been known to go off a couple of times, Clem." Pete explained, but that did not necessarily mean he agreed with his actions. "I know it's hard, but try not to hold it against him."

"I didn't mean to be so harsh." Nick continued as he took a seat at the same table as Clementine, but he sat on the opposite side from her. Now Clementine was finally looking towards him and making eye-contact with him. "It's just...We let in a bite victim once and...And they came back as a walker and...Killed my mom."

Clementine's expression lit up into a surprised one for a moment to what he just said. His mother had been killed by a walker? Is this why he was so angry all the time and was known to go off once and while?

"That sounds weird when I say it out loud, huh?" Nick agreed when he noticed her expression. He chuckled slightly for no reason, causing Clementine to arch an eyebrow. "And I had to be the one to put her down. It's been haunting me ever since and...Because of that, I didn't want the same thing to happen again, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I...I don't expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry, Clementine."

Clementine was speechless for a moment and was not certain on what to say. She knew how it felt to lose someone you cared about, but that did not give him the right to go and shoot anyone he pleases. Still, it was fortunate that he missed that day and Clementine was grateful to be alive. But now she didn't know if she accepted his apology or not.

Nick and Pete turned towards each other with Nick giving a nod. He had said his apology and even if she didn't forgive him, at least he did the right thing.

A moment after they were gone, Kenny returned and took a seat where Nick was sitting a moment ago. "Everything okay, Clementine? What were they saying?"

"Nick was just apologizing for what happened when we first met." Clementine answered, but she decided to leave out the part where he almost shot her. That would only make matters worse, and she did not want to see anyone fight today. "He was...A little harsher to me than anyone else."

Kenny turned around and faced the living room, his eyes locked onto Nick who had just taken a seat on the couch a second time. He sighed and turned around to face the young girl sitting opposite of him. "Well, I suppose I ought to appreciate him being the bigger man and apologizing. I need to go and help Walter for a while, any problems; you call me, all right?"

"Will do." Clementine nodded with a small smile.

Kenny nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to go outside to help Walter, but along the way, he was joined with Nick and Pete.

"Need any help?" Pete offered, wiling to show how grateful they were by helping out anyway they could.

"Sure, could do with a hand outside." Kenny replied, pointing his thumb towards the exit of the ski lodge. Although he was not exactly their friends at this point, he could use the extra help and appreciated their assistance. For now, they would simply remain acquaintances.

Whilst they were gone, Clementine dug her hand into her back pocket and took out her torn photograph of Lee. She watched it closely and sighed, rubbing her free hand against her forehead. Closing her eyes, Clementine spoke quietly to herself as if she were talking to Lee, her friend...Her guardian...Her father. "Did I do the right thing, Lee? Is that what you would have wanted? I wish you were here, Lee."

Clementine lowered her head as another one of her memories appeared in her mind, taking her back during the three months she had been surviving in Macon.

* * *

><p><em>The motor inn group was heading back to the motor inn, now that had fewer members than before. Mark and Larry were gone and the St. Johns was finished. However, along the way, the group stumbled across a station wage with the engine still turned on. For now, they kept their distance in case it was a trap.<em>

_"Don't shoot." Lee called out to the car. "We're here to help."_

_Slowly and cautiously, Lee remained crept down and began to sneak towards the station wage, Kenny following from behind. Clementine stayed with the others for now and Lilly and Carley had their weapons ready in case something went wrong. Lee eventually got the car, but so far, no sign of any danger._

_He leaned inside and retrieved the keys. "Figures." he mumbled._

_"Oh crap!" Kenny enthusiastically called out as he approached the back of the station wagon. "Baby, you've got to see this! There is a shit load of food and supplies back here!"_

_Seeing it was safe, Clementine and the rest of the group joined them around the station wagon._

_"This food could save all of us." Katjaa added, turning around to inform the others. Kenny and Duck were looking inside happily._

_"...Not ALL of us." Lilly reminded, her neck and the bottom part of her face were covered in her father's blood. She turned away from them, and everyone understood what she meant by this._

_Kenny ignored her and sighed._

_"Look, we don't know if these people are dead." Ben, their new member, spoke up with his arms folded together._

_"If they come back, then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives." Lilly added, agreeing with Ben._

_"This stuff isn't ours." Clementine added. Her parents taught her it was wrong to take things that were not theirs and she did not wish to become a thief._

_"Dad, whose car is it?" Duck asked her father as if he would know._

_"Don't worry about that Duck, it's ours now." Kenny assured his son, completely ignoring what Clementine, Ben and Lilly had told him._

_"It's abounded, Ducky. Don't worry." Katjaa reassured._

_"What if it's not?" Clementine spoke up, and all eyes met her. She placed her hands together. "What if it IS someone's?"_

_There was silence for awkward moment until Lee spoke up and stood by Clementine. Much to her relief, Lee agreed with her and stood firm. "You're right." Lee agreed. "We shouldn't take this."_

_"What?!" Kenny asked as he placed his hand to the lower part of his stomach where he had been shot, but luckily, he was still alive. He was shocked to see Lee would want to pass out on such a perfect opportunity. "Did you get some meal back there the rest of us missed out on?! We HAVE to take this stuff."_

_"Clementine and I don't want any part of this." Lee replied, standing with his decision not to steal._

_"We're starving!" Kenny reminded, pointing towards the rest of the group for a second. He was going to take the station wagon supplies, regardless of if Lee and Clementine didn't agree. "Suit yourself. The rest of us are taking this stuff." he held out his bloody hand._

_Lee understood what he was gesturing for, and as much as he did not want to do it, he got out the keys and threw them towards Kenny who caught them._

_"Okay, what have we got in here?" Kenny said, opening the trunk whilst everyone with the exception of Lee and Clementine lined up to take the food, even though Lilly and Ben suggested that they should not a moment ago._

_"Look, there's more food in that box!" Ben pointed out._

_"They have antibiotics!" Katjaa added. "Is there any more?"_

_Clementine held Lee's hand and the two watched as everyone else took the supplies. She was proud of Lee for standing by her side with this and would forever remember his selfless._

_"See if there's any water..." Carley suggested as she walked over towards them after searching the front of the car._

_As the boxes were issued out, Katjaa noticed a red hoodie in the trunk of the car and that gave her an idea. She called out to Lee. "Lee, there's a hoodie in here, could probably fit Clementine."_

_Lee turned towards Clementine, who shook her head in response to tell him that she did not want it. "She's good. Thanks."_

_"Whatever man, it's going to get cold out eventually." Kenny warned._

_Clementine didn't care if she got cold or not. What mattered is that she knew she did the right thing and Lee agreed with her. Food was important nowadays, but Clementine knew Lee would protect her no matter what and that everything was going to turn out okay._

* * *

><p>Clementine sighed and placed the photograph of Lee back into her pocket. She hoped Lee was watching over her now with her, smiling upon her and praising her for doing the right thing. For now, all Clementine wanted was a peaceful day and hoped the group would be gone by the first thing in the morning.<p>

And then she and Kenny were going to Wellington where it was safe.

* * *

><p><strong>That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. Clementine has decided to take the former cabin group inside just for today, but the real question is did she make the right decision? Stay tuned for chapter 13 that will be here soon.<strong>

**The cabin groups fate**

**18 people voted for Clementine to take them.**

**10 people voted for Clementine to turn them away.**


	13. Chapter 13: making amends

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 13: making amends**

**Next chapter is up, ladies and gentlemen of FanFiction. I was going to publish this yesterday, but it was Halloween so I decided to leave it until today. I hope ya'll had a good Halloween. Anyway, it's Saturday, everybody's favorite day of the week, enjoy the chapter, folks.**

**Also, a shout out to Loco Vampire for taking his time to draw this picture for me. I know it looks a little blurry and that's because of my editing software being buggy at the moment, but once I get it fixed, you'll be able to see it a lot better.**

* * *

><p>Not much had happened over the last few hours and mostly everyone kept to themselves during that time. Clementine was trying to avoid the cabin group and they seemed to not speak with her either. Sarah had approached Clementine at one point asking if she wanted to read her book, but Clementine kindly declined since she didn't have anything against Sarah.<p>

She just spent most of the time helping Kenny, Sarita, Walter and Matthew around the ski lodge. Right now, Clementine was helping Matthew lift a huge crate from Matthew's station house to the ski lodge.

"What's in this thing?" Clementine inquired as they made their way up the hill that was not making it any easier to carry.

"Just a few personal items, is all." Matthew answered, he too was groaning slightly. "It's getting cold and I decided to move back into the ski lodge until we all head up to Wellington together."

"I bet it gets lonely in there, huh?" Clementine assumed, looking back up towards the hill to make certain she did not trip over anything or if any walkers were lurking around the area.

"A little, but I don't mind." Matthew assured.

Finally, the two made it to the top of the hill and made their way back into the ski lodge with the others. Clementine looked around for a moment to see what everyone was up to. The former cabin group was speaking towards one another in the living room with the exception of Alvin and Rebecca who were upstairs resting. Well, Rebecca was resting whilst Alvin was taking care of her.

And as for Clementine's friends, Kenny and Sarita were talking nearby and Walter had got a start on dinner for the night. The duo set the crate down near the exit of the ski lodge, panting slightly for the walk up the hill with that extra weight.

"Thanks for the help, Clem." Matthew thanked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I can take it from here."

Clementine nodded and went to go and talk to Kenny for a while, but instead, she stopped when she heard Carlos calling her name.

"Clementine."

She turned around to face the group but she remained where she was standing for now and crossed her arms together, giving them a normal stare with a normal expression across her face. "Yeah...?"

"May we have a word?" Carlos requested whilst Alvin and Rebecca made their way downstairs and joined the rest of the groups. Kenny, Sarita, Walter and Matthew had also heard this and walked over to investigate.

Clementine turned towards her friends who each gave her a supportive nod and she stepped forward near the living room area. All of the cabin group members stood up with the exception of Luke whom had been shot and Rebecca whom was unable to stand properly due to her pregnancy.

"Clementine." Carlos began as he did a quick check around him to make sure everyone was present to hear this. For once, his expression softened and he looked towards Clementine with his arms folded together. He sighed and continued. "Clementine, as it was my idea in the first place and on behalf of everyone in our group...We're sorry. We're sorry for not believing you when you were bit by a dog, we're sorry for being so harsh to you. We're sorry for believing you were an enemy working for Carver, and we're sorry for locking in a shed to die. We were wrong to act the way we did and we understand if you cannot find it in your heart to forgive us, but we just wanted to let you know how sorry we are...Right everyone?"

Luke, Nick, Pete, Alvin, Rebecca, and Sarah all nodded in confirmation and each shared their own individual apology to Clementine.

"I'm sorry, Clementine."

"I'm sorry, Clem, and I was wrong to act the way I did."

"I'm sorry, Clem, I should have done more."

"I'm sorry for not doing much, Clem."

"I'm sorry for the way I acted, Clementine."

"Sorry Clem."

Although the past could not be changed, Clementine did appreciate each of them apologizing to her, including Rebecca which surprised her a lot, but she was not complaining nevertheless. She accepted their apology, but that did not mean she would forget it.

There was silence for a moment with the former cabin group beginning to think she was not going to accept their apology, but Clementine spoke up a few seconds later."...I forgive you all. And I appreciate all of you apologizing to me. I'm glad you did, thank you."

Each member of the group had relieved expressions on their faces and each of them gave Clementine a nod and a small smile. Kenny, Sarita, Walter and Matthew were watching the entire event and were proud of Clementine that she found it in her heart to do the right thing and were grateful that the cabin group finally made amends with them. At least they wouldn't need to spend the rest of the day avoiding each other.

With that said and done, everyone got back to their own personally things for a while. Clementine was going to follow Kenny, but instead, she now felt confident enough to sit with the former cabin group in the living room area. As she got there, Alvin and Rebecca went back upstairs for a while and Pete went to go and get some drink.

Clementine took a seat on the couch next to Sarah who was now reading her book, the one she told her about when they first met. The one called the Guurgles, if she remembered correctly. "Hey Sarah."

Sarah looked up for a moment to greet her new best friend. Even despite everything that happened today, she still considered Clementine to be her friend, especially after they pinky swore. "Hey Clementine. Thanks for accepting our apology."

"Well, I didn't want to be any more problems to be between us." Clementine explained with a slight shrug. "And you didn't do anything to me really." she did a quick check to make sure Carlos was not listening before whispering to her older friend. "Thanks for helping me though, Sarah. I might have died if you didn't help me"

"We're friends, and friends look out for each other. Just don't tell my dad though." Sarah replied with her beaming smile. "So, what exactly happened to you after you escaped? All my dad told me is that you were gone."

Clementine closed her eyes for a moment and had to reply the memories of that where she was running into nowhere, cold, alone, hungry and exhausted. She thought for sure she was going to meet her end, but then he came and saved her. "I ran away and collapsed, but the next morning; this man found me and fixed my arm. His name was Enrico, he took care of me and we both headed up this way together."

As she was now talking in her normal voice, the other members of the cabin group all shifted their attention towards her and paid close attention to her story.

"But Enrico, Kenny and I all headed out together one morning and...And walkers ambushed us." Clementine continued her face full of sadness and regret. "Enrico stayed and distracted them for me and Kenny to escape, but he couldn't follow us. I...I don't know what happened to him. It's been days since we last saw him and he left all of his supplies here."

There was a moment of silence with everyone turning towards each with somewhat apologetic and sympathy faces. Luke was the one to speak up whilst the others remained silent. "We're sorry to hear that, Clementine, but we're sure he's all right. You never know, any moment now he could just come sprinting through those doors."

"That's what I thought too." Clementine agreed, shaking her head slightly to the left and right. She decided to change the subject when she noticed bandages around Luke's leg. "What happened to your leg?"

"It's a long story, Clem." Luke admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck and allowed their leader to tell this one. "You better explain it to her, Carlos."

Carlos sighed and folded his arms together whilst he began explaining their story to the young girl sitting in front of him. "All of us here we're a part of a community ruled by a man named William Carver-"

"Wait, did you say Carver?" Clementine questioned, arching a curious eyebrow and interrupting the doctor from his story. "Does he have gray hair, gray moustache, around six-foot tall, scratchy voice and wears a coat with a line of furring?" she was slightly surprised she remembered him that much.

"Yes, that's him!" Nick exclaimed, but his face turned slightly angry. He still wished that they gave him a painful death for all he had done to them.

"You know him, Clementine?" Pete inquired, placing his hands to his hips.

"Enrico and I met him and a few others on her way here. He asked if he wanted to join him, but we didn't and kept moving." Clementine answered, now wondering if that old saying of the world being a small place was true. "He also asked if I had seen you guys, but I didn't tell him anything."

"Well, thanks for trying, Clem, but he found us anyway unfortunately." Luke replied with a look of gratefulness across his face. "That's how I got shot."

"Yes." Carlos confirmed as he began to continue the rest of their story. "Like I was saying, we escaped his community, but he was determined to get us back. He found our cabin with several others from his community, and we were forced to engage him in a firefight. We were lucky none of our group died. We were forced to kill him and his colleges, but a couple of them escaped and we knew they could come back to avenge him. We had to leave before that happened and we figured north was our best solution."

Clementine nodded in confirmation to everything he had been saying. She was glad that she did not let her anger get the best of them and reveal their location, but then again, Carver was able to find them nevertheless. Still, they escaped, Carver was dead, and Clementine did the right thing. "So where are you guys heading?"

"We're not exactly sure yet." Carlos replied. "But we are hoping to find somewhere safe really soon. We are low on supplies and Rebecca is close to giving birth to her baby soon."

"Even if ya'll wasn't here at this ski lodge, we were planning on only staying for the night anyway." Luke added.

Clementine was slightly surprised for what these people had to go through just to survive, and if Rebecca were to go into labor whilst they were moving, that would not end well. The weather was not safe out there and her screams would without a doubt attract walkers. "I'm sure you will all find somewhere to go. Besides, we're planning on moving in a couple of weeks too anyway."

"Moving?" Pete repeated, his expression revealing that he was curious. "Why would you want to leave here? No offence or anything, but this place is like paradise."

"My friend Christa and I were heading north to a place called Wellington before we get separated." Clementine began to explain. "And Kenny's got the same idea too."

"So, what's Wellington?" Nick asked the obvious.

"It's a big camp up north, near Michigan, I think." Clementine answered, but she was not quite certain since Christa had most of the details about it.

Nick was about to open his mouth and say something, possible going to make a comment that it did not exist, but he stopped himself in the nick of time when he didn't want to cause any more commotion, especially after Clementine only just forgave them. And even if he didn't, Pete gave him a look that was telling him not to say anything.

"Well, I hope you get there safely, Clementine." Pete hoped and smiled towards her with a nod.

"Thanks." Clementine thanked with a nod in return. With that said and done, everyone went to go and do their own activates for a while. Carlos went to go and check on Rebecca, Nick and Pete went to go and help Matthew move some stuff out of his station house, and Luke remained seated in the armchair for now to rest his leg.

Clementine remained seated as well and decided to speak with Sarah for a while who was telling her about the Guurgles and what chapter she was on so far. She decided to listen in on the story and let Sarah read it to her.

* * *

><p>Nothing much happened over the next couple of hours or so in the ski lodge. Matthew was now moved back in the ski lodge to which Walter was happy about, Walter had got dinner started, and the former cabin group had got settled in nicely for the night.<p>

As for Clementine, she had been helping Sarah and Sarita decorate the Christmas tree in the living room by the stairs. It was fun to feel like a normal kid again, and she could not be happier to be here in a nice warm shelter with her old friend Kenny. Things were finally looking up for a change. If only Lee could have been here to witness this.

Once the tree was near finished, Clementine made her way back to the top of the stairs and found an angle topper in one of the boxes. She leaned over the railing to place the angel carefully on top of the tree.

Down below, Sarah looked up to observe the topper that caused her to smile. "She looks so cool!"

Sarita leaned up from the inside of the tree and observed the same topper on top of the tree. "Beautiful. I used to love this time of year. You know, now that everyone's here, this place is starting to feel like a real home."

"Dinners ready, everyone!" Walter announced in a pleasant tone.

And now it was time for another meal of peaches and beans. Thank the lord she still had a couple of other snacks to eat.

One by one, everyone regrouped at the table with Nick having to support Luke but they made it over into the cafeteria where there were two bench tables to sit at. The former cabin group sat at one table whilst the ski lodge group sat at the other.

"You sure you're all right, man?" Nick asked Luke in a concerned tone as the two took a seat.

"Yeah, I'm good, don't worry about me." Luke assured, getting himself comfortable to avoid hurting his leg further.

Walter and Matthew issued out the bowls of peaches and beans to everyone on the first table before proceeded over towards the next table.

Clementine took a seat next to Walter on the table with Kenny, Sarita and Matthew.

"Here you go, Clementine." Walter said as he slid a bowl over towards her direction.

"Thank you." Clementine thanked as she picked up a spoon and began to eat away.

With their dinner served, everyone began to eat away with the cabin group letting out a pleasant tone as it was their first time eating something hot in a long time.

As they were eating, Kenny placed his spoon down and swallowed his food. "So Clementine, what were you talking to the other group about it earlier?"

"Kenny." Sarita sighed. Obviously, Kenny still had some trusting issues with them.

"Sarita, I'm just asking." Kenny reassured as he shifted his attention towards Clementine, waiting for her answer.

"Nothing much." Clementine answered with a slight shrug. "I was just asking them where they were going and was just asking what happened to them."

"And did you know?" Kenny inquired.

"Yeah, I know." Clementine nodded, but she kept her voice a little quiet to avoid the other group hearing. "Someone Enrico and I met named Carver was after them because they use to be a part of their community, but they left because he went crazy. He found them and they had to kill him, but now they think the rest of his people might come looking for them for revenge. They headed up here to lose them."

Kenny seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded. "Well, you don't need to worry about that, Clementine. They'll be leaving tomorrow."

"And we've gave them a couple of our supplies, so they'll be okay." Walter added after taking a bite out his dinner.

"You sure we shouldn't ask them to come with us?" Sarita asked Kenny, leaving him a bit surprised.

"Sarita, they're not our friends." Kenny reminded her in a normal tone. "They have apologized, but that don't mean we can forget it. Besides, they already mentioned they're leaving in the morning and we can't stop them." he placed his hand onto her own. "They'll be fine, really."

Sarita still looked a little unsure, but she trusted Kenny and nodded in agreement.

"Good." Kenny smiled and decided to drop the subject for now and got back to eating their dinner. He looked around for the salt, but realized it was out of his reach and asked Clementine for assistance. "Can you pass me that salt, Duck?"

Clementine's eyes widened for a moment when he mentioned the name of his deceased son.

Kenny gasped seconds later when he had just realized what he said, showing that he was still deeply affected by his son's death. He closed his eyes as he lowered his head in sadness, seeing the image of his son being put down by Lee in his mind.

* * *

><p><em>"KAT! KAT! KATJAA!" Kenny cried out as he leaned over his now deceased wife who had shot herself because she was unable to live without her son.<em>

_Lee was behind Kenny and watched in sadness as he averted his attention towards a dying Duck, who was leaving against a tree, barely hanging on to life._

_"Why, Kat? Honey, oh fucking God..." Kenny asked with tears falling down his eyes. He cried heavily and mourned the loss of his wife, but now he was going to lose his son as well._

_"Oh my God..." Lee gasped quietly in shock._

_"I...I..." Kenny could not get his words properly. He placed his hand upon Katjaa's face and closed her eyes for her before turning toward Duck. He knew what was going to happen next, like it or not. He picked up the Glock 17 and stood up, taking a couple of steps towards his son. "What do we do?" he asked Lee when he approached him._

_"Give me the gun, Ken." Lee requested, not willing to put him through this. "I'll do it."_

_Kenny did as he said and handed him the pistol before taking a few steps away, unsure if he could witness this. But he was grateful that Lee was willing to do this for him. If he shot Duck, he was not sure how he would feel. He was going to lose his entire family in a matter of five minutes._

_Lee inhaled a deep breath and slowly lifted his arm and aimed the Glock 17 towards Ducks head, preparing to shoot. Although they were not as close as everyone in their group, Lee cared for Duck. Hesitating for a few seconds, Lee pulled the trigger and the gun fired, finally putting Duck out of his misery._

_Kenny was trying to hold back tears the best he could, but he couldn't. He didn't know if he had the will to continue after everything that just happened this moment. Still, he understood that his wife and son were in a better place now, and hopefully, he would be with them again one day._

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><p>Kenny lowered his head in sadness and avoided eye-contact with everyone present. Every time he heard any mention of his family, the flashbacks of them dying would appear in his mind.<p>

"I'm sorry, Kenny." Clementine apologized with a look of sadness across her face. She too missed Duck dearly as he was her best friend.

The others notice sitting at the same table noticed this too and decided to leave him alone and let him have his personal space and continued to eat their dinner in peace.

As they were eating in silence, everyone's interests picked up when they heard the sound of the wind turbine outside beginning to get louder than it should have. The storm was causing it to spin out of control and faster that its average speed. That was not going to end well.

"That's going to attract walkers!" Kenny spoke out the obvious as he quickly jumped up from his seat and ran towards the exit of the ski lodge. He was clearly still upset with the mention of his son, but he had to focus on those around him, especially Clementine and Sarita.

"I'll go and get the guns!" Matthew informed them, quickly running towards another direction.

"We'll get ours, too." Luke replied, but he moved too fast that he banged his injured leg against the table, causing him to cry out in pain. "Ah, shit!"

"Luke, you can't move with your leg." Pete told him. He spoke firm as if he was Luke's father. "Just stay here, we'll hand this."

Luke nodded slowly, even though he wished he was out there helping. But he respected Pete's wishes and stayed inside with Alvin, Rebecca and Sarah.

Once everyone got their weapons, most of them ran outside to help Kenny, but Carlos stopped and quickly turned back to his daughter, kneeling down and placing his hand upon her shoulder. "Sarah, I need you to stay inside, okay? This is dangerous. Just stay with Alvin, Rebecca and Luke. Okay?"

"Okay, Dad." Sarah nodded innocently.

Carlos patted her shoulder before he followed everyone else outside, grabbing his rifle along the way.

Clementine was the last one to leave the ski lodge, making sure everyone was present. She took out Enrico's Glock 22 and reloaded a magazine inside, quickly joining both groups outside. Hopefully they could shut the wind turbine down before it got out of control and attracting walkers.

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><p><strong>That's the end of this chapter, folks. The former cabin group have made amends with Clementine who has accepted their apology. But now they are left with a problem outside. Let us hope they can shut down the wind turbine in time.<strong>


	14. Chapter 14: the walker invasion

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 14: the walker invasion  
><strong>

**Here's chapter 14, folks, and there's nothing to say in this author's note, other than to enjoy reading.**

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><p>Once everyone was armed with a weapon, the group departed out of the ski lodge and charged straight towards the wind turbine with the exception of Walter and Matthew, who stayed behind to guard the ski lodge entrance. Everyone made it to the wind turbine, but they each turned their attention towards the same direction when the sound of something overloading echoed throughout the night.<p>

"What was that?" Nick inquired, taking out his Glock 17 to prepare for trouble.

Kenny looked back towards the ski lodge and noticed the lights had been turned off, meaning the power was gone. "Dammit, I think the transformers broken. I need to go and check it, but I could use a hand."

"I'll go with you." Pete offered.

"Me, too." Sarita stepped forward.

"No. It's too dangerous for all of us to go. Me and Pete can handle this." Kenny assured, not wanting put the risk of losing someone else he cared for again. He turned back over to the others and gave them their orders. "As for the rest of you, shut down this wind turbine, fast."

Kenny and Pete soon departed with no-one getting the chance to ask how they were supposed to do this. Sarita opened up the power box and the remaining people watched as they could see nothing but darkness in the inside of the box, unsure of what to do next.

"Does anyone know how to do this?" Carlos asked, turning towards everyone present, but he only earned shrugs from everyone. "Perfect." he sighed.

Clementine could see that no-one was going to try and figure this out on their own. She sighed and stepped up to help. "I can do it."

"Okay, we'll watch your back." Carlos assured, raising his Glock 17 as he turned towards the others. "Nick, scan the trees with me. Sarita, watch Clementine."

While the others defended Clementine, she pulled her butterfly lighter from her pocket to see inside the power box better. Once it was bright, she spotted the red button that must be the one to turn of the wind turbine.

"It's too dark to see anything." Carlos spoke up, just about able to see anything around the area. "We have to shut this thing down now."

Clementine grabbed the key from the hook inside and placed it inside the red button. She placed the key inside and turned it, pushing down to turn it off.

The wind turbine slowly came to a halt, and the remaining group all looked up towards it, praying they shut it off in time before the sound attracted walkers.

"Nice job, Clementine." Carlos praised, but he turned around and joined the others when they heard movement in the trees.

"Something ain't right." Nick admitted, he too hearing sounds in the distance.

Out from the woods of Carolina, the sounds snarling and growling could be heard from a distance and the group watched in shock as the familiar undead people known as the walkers emerged from the trees; making their way over to the wind turbine. This sure was not going to end well for them.

"This is not going to be easy." Carlos declared, raising his pistol up.

"We should back to the lodge." Nick suggested, realizing they were heavily outnumbered. He swiftly turned around when he heard footsteps from behind them. "Oh, shit, here they come!"

"Everyone, stay together!" Sarita suggested, quickly reloading a round into her rifle.

The group remained in a circle as they began to fire their weapons in different directions, taking down whatever walkers they could see in their sights. They would have to make their weapons last, otherwise they would be using them as melee weapons.

Clementine turned back towards the ski lodge and took out her Glock 22 when walkers approached her. She remembered Lee's teachings and shot down the walkers without wasting any ammunition.

However, that was not the last of them. More walkers approached her from the north and were heading straight for her.

Clementine closed one eye fired her remaining bullets at the group walkers, managing to kill almost all of them in the process, but when she attempted to take down the rest, she discovered her gun did not fire and rather clicked. She took a couple of steps back as the remaining walkers moved in on her. She quickly searched her pocket for another clip, but in the panic, she dropped her gun

As she stumbled back and tripped over, a single gunshot was suddenly fired, followed by the closet walker collapsing to the ground with a sickening thud just a mere foot away from her feet The other one was shot too, and just in time since it was close to attacking Clementine.

Clementine looked back to see it was Carlos who had saved her life. Her expression turned to a grateful one as she quickly jumped up and picked up the Glock 22 and the extra clip.

"Quickly, run!" Carlos shouted, but he suddenly stumbled forward and quickly spun around when he felt a walker had grabbed onto him from behind. He dropped his Glock 17 in the process and before he knew it, he got into a wrestle with the walker. "Help me!" he pleaded.

"Carlos!" Clementine yelled, quickly taking aim and pulling the trigger, but for some reason, the gun did not fire. She pulled the trigger a few more times, but it still refused to fire. "Come on!"

By now, the walker had tackled Carlos to the ground and it was dangerous close to taking a bite out of his neck. Unfortunately for him, the walker that had knocked him down was a big one that made it really heavy to move. Carlos tried with all his might to push it back, but the walker was too heavy.

Inside the ski lodge, Sarah had been witnessing the entire events with Rebecca, Alvin and Luke, and she gasped and breathed heavily when she saw her father being tackled down by a walker. "Daddy!" she cried out, not even thinking once as she darted towards the exit to the ski lodge.

"Sarah, no!" Rebecca attempted to call her back, but to no avail.

Alvin had tried to chase her, but Sarah was surprisingly a lot faster than she looked. By the time he reached the exit to the ski lodge, Sarah was already half way towards her father. "Damn." he sighed, knowing there was nothing more he could do.

Clementine groaned in frustration and slammed her hand against the gun, and pulled the trigger one more time. Finally, the gun fired and the bullet went straight through the walker's head in the nick of time. A second later and Carlos would have been a goner. She jumped down and helped Carlos push the walker away.

Carlos groaned and got back onto his feet under his own strength, panting heavily whilst shaken up from the near-death experience. She looked at Clementine gratefully as he picked up his pistol. "That...That was close...Thank you."

Clementine nodded in response.

"Dad!"

Carlos looked up to see his daughter running straight for him and he held his arms open to her, embracing Sarah in a hug to which she returned. He did not care at this point that she was out here, he was just grateful to be alive. "I'm okay, honey, I'm okay."

"There are more of them!" Nick yelled from nearby as he grabbed onto a nearby stick and whacked it against the walker's head before he forced it back with a kick.

Carlos let go of Sarah and quickly took out his Glock 17, taking aim at the nearest walkers. "Sarah, get back to the ski lodge, hurry! I promise I'll be back soon."

Sarah merely nodded in response, but the sight of all the undead walkers marching in from every direction was beginning to get to her. The sight of taking it all in once left her too shocked to move. Her breathing picked up and she was beginning to panic. "D-D-Dad...C-Clem."

"Sarah, come on!" Clementine told her, standing in front of her in a protective manner. She raised her weapon and began shooting walkers.

As much as Sarah tried, this was all too much to take in and she began to back away fearfully towards the ski lodge, her eyes mainly focused on her father.

At that moment, Clementine narrowed her eyes towards the woods where two familiar faces came running out, and almost immediately, both of them raised their weapons and helped take down the walkers. She called out to them as she and Carlos moved closer to the others. "Kenny, Pete! Help us!"

The two men came running towards her, taking down a couple of walkers along the way. Clementine, Kenny, Pete, Sarita, Nick and Carlos all gathered in a circle together, debating on their next plan.

"What do we do?" Kenny asked, reloading a round into his rifle.

"We need a plan here." Pete suggested, taking a couple of breaths to catch his breath back. It was not getting easy to run at his age.

Nearby, Sarah continued to back away and finally turned around and headed straight for the ski lodge, running as fast as her legs would carry her. However, as she approached some kind of bulldozer and was heading straight towards her. Once again, she froze and began to panic. "No! No! NO! D-A-AD!"

Carlos immediately whipped around when he heard the sounds of his daughter cries and charged straight towards her to safe her. He would not dare let anything happen to Sarah and would give his life if it meant saving hers. He couldn't lose her; she was all he had left. "SARAH!"

Sarah screamed and held her hands against her ears and closed her eyes. "AHHHHH!"

"NO!" Carlos bellowed at the top of his lungs, quickly aiming his Glock 17 to fire but his gun clicked, signifying that his gun was out of ammunition. He also seemed to forget that he was carrying a rifle on his back.

The walker moved dangerously close to collapsing down onto Sarah and taking a bite out of her, but instead, it froze where it was standing and half of its head was decapitated from behind. The half of the walker's head slid off and the now dead walker fell down sidewards and landed against the ground with a sickening thug.

By now, Carlos had finally arrived and he grabbed Sarah in another tight embrace, and this time, he picked her up and held her close. He calmly rubbed his hand down her hair to calm her down when she was crying into his shirt. "Shh, shh, it's over, honey. Shh, it's okay, I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you."

Clementine joined them and looked up towards Sarah's savior and gasped in a relief tone when her eyes met an exhausted Enrico, who panted heavily, his machete in one hand. "Enrico!"

"Clem." Enrico greeted whilst still panting. He looked visibly weaker than before and his skin looked a little pale. "Did...I miss...Anything...?" before they knew it, Enrico had suddenly fallen unconscious and collapsed onto the ground front first.

"Enrico!" Clementine cried, quickly jumping down and shaking him side to side, but he was not getting up. "Get up. What's the matter with him?"

Carlos knelt down and placed two of his fingers against his neck and felt beating in his neck. "He's still alive, but we'll need to get him inside if I need to check him properly."

"Hello! There are still God-knows how many walkers coming!" Kenny pointed out the obvious. Walter and Matthew were nearby and came running over to join the others.

"I have to get my daughter inside." Carlos reminded in a somewhat snappy tone, yet he was serious.

"Look, let's just all just think about this." Pete suggested, but Kenny as usual, cut him off from his sentence.

"Ain't anything to think about, old man." Kenny shouted.

"Hey, don't talk to my uncle like that!" Nick warned, jabbing a finger into the older man's chest.

"What are you going to do about it, Vanilla ice?" Kenny barked rudely. The two were so much alike that it was hard to believe.

Clementine looked back and forth between everyone whilst they were arguing about what to do next, and all of them seemed to be forgetting that walkers were still advancing from the woods and they would be upon them soon. Realizing what she needed to do, what Lee would do, she yelled out that caused everyone to stop arguing. "Shut up!"

This had worked and now all eyes were focused towards her.

Now that she had their attention, it was time to give each and every one of them their orders if they were going to win this.

She turned towards the first three people standing before here." Kenny, Pete, Sarita, you three take out the closest walkers in any direction."

"We're on it, Clem." Kenny nodded without question and quickly departed in a random direction, Sarita and Pete following closely.

She turned towards Carlos and Nick. "Carlos, take Sarah back into the ski lodge. Nick, carry Enrico."

"Okay." both men nodded and did as they were told.

And lastly, she turned towards Walter and Matthew who stood there, simply staring towards her. "Walter, Matthew, I need you both to guard the ski lodge entrance, be like snipers."

"We're on it, Clementine." Walter obliged and grabbed his Glock 17.

Once everyone had departed, Clementine ran with Nick and helped him carry Enrico into safety. She grabbed him by his legs whilst Nick grabbed him by his arms and both of them carried him to safety.

"Is this the guy who saved you?" Nick inquired as they made their way up the steps towards the ski lodge doors

"Yeah, that's him." Clementine answered, looking back for just a second to make certain everyone was doing as they were told. She helped carry Enrico inside and carried him towards the living room, setting him down on the couch.

"Whoa, who's this?" Alvin inquired as he and his wife joined them.

"He's part of Clementine's group, don't worry." Carlos assured after he had set down Sarah and proceeded to go and help Enrico. He examined him closely and tried to figure out what was wrong with him exactly. "Hmm, it's hard to determine what's wrong with him. You said he's been alone for days, right? It could be from lack of food, water, sleep, or all three."

At that moment, Enrico's eyes opened and he called out weakly for a familiar face. "Clem...Clem...Clementine."

Hearing her name, Clementine approached Enrico and knelt down beside him when Carlos moved out the way. "Enrico..."

"...I'm sorry, Clementine." Enrico apologized with a look of sadness across his face.

Clementine looked confused and arched a curious eyebrow to what he was sorry for. She was about to ask, but instead, she watched in shock and sadness when Enrico rolled up his sleeve and revealed a walker bite on his right arm. "No..." she whispered and closed her eyes.

"It happened this morning." Enrico explained, turning his head away to avoid looking her in the eyes. "I was running through the woods and a walker jumped out of nowhere and bit me. I was considering cutting it off, but I couldn't bring myself to do it." he chuckled slightly for some reason. "I was close...Close to finally finding somewhere safe. I can't fulfill that dream now, Clem, but you can. You, Kenny, Sarita, all of your friends."

"Why did this have to happen?" Clementine responded, a couple of tears dropping from her eyes. "You're a good person, Enrico, you didn't deserve this. It's not fair."

"I don't think nothing's fair anymore." Enrico replied, his eyes were beginning to look yellow from the infection. With his last bit of breath, he would speak his fine words to Clementine, the girl who he had saved in her time of need. "Clementine...You're a good kid, a strong person, someone who can survive in this world better than I ever could. You...You're strong."

Those words reminded her of Lee during his last words too. Why did it all seem so similar? Why did she have to go through this again?

Enrico moved his other arm up and took off his cross necklace, slowly moving it towards Clementine. He held his hand open with his necklace placed upon it. Clementine in return, placed her hand onto of his. "Take my necklace, Clementine. It always brought me good luck...Most of the times...Now you get to Wellington, don't give up no matter what happens...And...And remember Clementine...There's always hope."

Clementine slowly nodded and accepted Enrico's necklace, holding it close in her hand. More tears shredded from her eyes and simultaneously, Enrico closed his eyes and had now died from the infection. She almost burst out into the tears when she was forced to witness another one of her friends, someone who she cared for had to die like this. It was not fair.

Quietly, Clementine got down on her knees and closed her eyes, silently mourning the loss of Enrico. Carlos, Sarah, Luke, Alvin and Rebecca could only watch in sadness and did not say anything to be disrespectful. Clementine would never forget what Enrico did for her, and the first thing she was going to do as soon as the walkers were gone was to give him a proper burial.

At least then Enrico would be at peace and finally be reunited with his family.

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><p><strong>Chapter 14 is over. Enrico has returned, but he has died from a walker bite. There was nothing they could do to save him...Chapter 15 coming soon.<strong>


	15. Chapter 15: time to move on

**There's always hope**

**Chapter 15: time to move on  
><strong>

**_"Don't be afraid."_-Lee Everett.**

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><p>With the night over and the walkers dispatched of, today was the day the cabin group were going to continue moving, but first, everyone had to attend Enrico's funeral. When everyone was up early in the morning, they buried Enrico a few feet away from the ski lodge and were now gathered around in front of his grave in silence.<p>

Clementine was the saddest out of them all and when Enrico had died the previous night, she was going to be the one who put him down, but after everything that happened, especially with Lee, she was not certain if she could put someone down again. But fortunately for her, Kenny had assured her he would be the one to do it to which she was grateful for.

After a moment of silence in respect, everyone turned around and slowly began walking back to the ski lodge. Except for Clementine, that is who remained where she stood and could not look away from his grave where they had used rope and wood to build a cross to place on his grave in respect.

Clementine sighed and held up Enrico's cross necklace that she was now wearing across her neck. "Goodbye, Enrico." she whispered with her eyes closed, trying to hold back tears.

She heard footsteps pressing into the snow from behind her and felt Kenny place his hand upon her shoulder to help comfort her. He too looked saddened by Enrico's death, and the fact that he was the one who made sure he did not come back as a walker.

"Come on, darling. Let's get inside." Kenny suggested, turning her around slowly and escorting her towards the ski lodge. "It's getting cold out here. Let's...Let's go. He's in a better place now."

Clementine walked with Kenny back into the ski lodge where she immediately felt the warmth of the fire breeze against her skin. She took a seat on the couch and sat there in silence with her hands placed together. Luke and Nick were also present whilst everyone went to go and collect their things.

Nick turned towards Luke who shrugged in response. He decided to try and say something to comfort her, even though he was not the best when it came to kids. "Hey, uh, you all right, Clem?"

Clementine did not respond and held her head down, not wanting to make eye-contact with anyone yet. At the moment, she would just rather be alone.

Nick saw that she did not want to talk and decided that it was best to leave her alone and give Clementine her space. "I'm going to help Pete." he informed Luke as he stood up and proceeded to another part of the ski lodge.

Clementine sighed after Nick was gone and thought to herself quietly. Too many things had happened to her now that she just did not know what to do anymore. Everyone does their best to survive in this God-forsaken world, and for what point? Just have the undead kill them or make them into one of them.

It was true what Molly had told them in Savannah: "In the end, the dead always win."

But that did not mean Clementine was going to give up just like that. She was going to listen to Enrico's final words and keep moving in life, prepared to face whatever challenges lie ahead.

After a little while had passed, the former cabin group was packed up and was ready to continue their journey. Every one of them gathered near the exit of ski lodge and bid their goodbye to Clementine, Kenny, Sarita, Walter and Matthew. And even more surprisingly to Clementine, Kenny had offered them to stay, but Carlos assured him that they would be fine, but did thank him for the offer.

"Well, I guess we better be on our way." Luke announced whilst he was using his AK-47 to keep his balance. He no longer needed Nick's assistance to help him walk. "Thanks for everything guys and I hope ya'll find what you're looking for."

"Yes, thank you." Carlos thanked, his hand placed upon Sarah's shoulder. "We are grateful for your hospitality."

"Don't mention it." Kenny assured with a nod.

With that said and done, the former cabin group each bid the ski lodge group goodbye before they turned around and slowly exited the ski lodge. Sarah stopped near the exit and looked back towards Clementine one more time with a look of sadness across her face, but she left a few seconds later when Carlos called for her.

Now it was back to five members of their group left, they were all that remained at this point.

"I hope they'll find somewhere safe." Walter spoke up as he and Matthew made their way back to the cafeteria.

A few seconds later, Clementine proceeded back to the living room and took a seat on the couch, lifting up Enrico's cross necklace. Another memento she would carry with her to help remember the people she cared for, the people that gave their lives to protect her. She had her hat that was given to her by her father, it was covered in Lee's blood, she had hair ties that Lilly gave her, and now she had Enrico's necklace. It was important to remember the people she loved.

Clementine sighed and looked over towards Kenny, who was speaking to Sarita near the exit of the ski lodge. She hoped nothing would happen to Kenny, as he was all she had left now. Kenny, Sarita, Walter, and Matthew, they were all that remains. This time, Clementine was not going to let no-one else die. From this day forward, she was going to help protect them, even if it meant giving up her own life.

But she hoped that day would never come anytime soon.

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><p><em>One month later<em>

A month had passed since the events of the attack on the ski lodge by walkers, and since then, things had been quite peaceful. Clementine was feeling back to her old self, but she was still mourning the loss of Enrico. But Kenny was there to help comfort her to which Clementine was extremely grateful for. But today was the day they were leaving and going to Wellington.

It was early morning in North Carolina and everyone inside the ski lodge had their things packed and was ready to leave. Clementine had her pink backpack on which had her Glock 22, a photo of Lee, a photo of Enrico and his family, her drawing of Kenny and his family, and a few snacks in case she got hungry on the way.

Walter and Matthew were carrying two large bags each since they were the ones carrying all of their food and supplies. Kenny had his rifle and Sarita was holding onto extra supplies, including a map.

"We all ready to go?" Kenny asked as he placed his hand upon his head.

"We're ready." Walter answered with a slight nod.

"All right, ya'll, let's hit the road." Kenny announced as he stepped forward and opened the glass door, waiting for everyone in his group to exit before he would follow.

"Can't wait to get to Wellington." Matthew told Walter, checking his ammunition inside his M14.

Clementine was the last one to exit the ski lodge after everyone else was gone. She looked back and sighed, knowing if Wellington was a bust, that she could always come back here, that's if someone else didn't already inhabit it after them. This place was certainly going to bring back a lot of memories if they returned.

Hopefully Wellington was going to be their safe place where they would stay for the rest of their lives. Taking one more look at the ski lodge whilst making her way outside, she spoke to herself as if she were speaking to someone else that was not in their group. "Goodbye Enrico."

Clementine proceeded to exit the ski lodge and walked closely to Kenny as he led their group through the cold woods of Carolina. Once they reached Wellington, it was time for a fresh start and put everything that she experienced behind her.

It's what Lee would have wanted.

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><p><strong>The end. This chapter as just to summarize the end of the story and to explain what happened next. I hope everyone enjoyed the story up to here, and thanks for everyone for reading and reviewing. Until next time, ciao.<strong>

**Assassin's Creed Master out.**

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard, and Telltale Games. Enrico is owned by me.**

**The cast:**

**Melissa Hutchison voice of Clementine**

**Scott Porter voice of Luke**

**Brian Bremer voice of Nick**

****Brian Sommer voice of Peter Joseph Randall****

**Andrew "Kid Beyond" Chaikin voice of Carlos**

**Louisa Mackintosh voice of Sarah**

**Shay Moore voice of Rebecca**

**Dorian Lockett voice of Alvin**

**Gavin Hammon voice of Kenny**

**Julia Farmer voice of Sarita**

**Kiff VandenHeuvel voice of Walter**

**Wylie Herman voice of Matthew**

**Erin Yvette voice of Bonnie**

**Michael Madsen voice of William "Bill" Carver**

**Owen Thomas voice of Troy**

**Julian Kwasneski voice of Johnny**


End file.
